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*  ^ 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


LINCOLN  CENTENNIAL 

A 


ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  MEMORIAL  EXERCISES 

HELD  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS 

FEBRUARY  12,  1909 


Commemorating 

The  One  Hundredth  Birthday  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


Published  by 

THE  ILLINOIS  CENTENNIAL  COMMISSION 
1909 


E.457 

.7 


5 


.-P— ; -,  :  :  •«/ 

JOURNAL    CO.,    PRINTERS,    SPRINGFIELD,     ILL. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Frontispiece ;  Lincoln 4 

Joint  Resolution  of  the  Illinois  General  Assembly  ...  4 

Illinois  Centennial  Commission;  members •  5 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association ;  incorporators 6 

Summary  of  Memorial  Exercises 7 

At  the  Armory ;  mention 10 

Judge  Humphrey,  introducing  Mr.  Jusserand 11 

Ambassador  Jusserand's  address 16 

Judge  Humphrey,  introducing  Mr.  Bryce 27 

Ambassador  Bryce's  address 29 

Judge  Humphrey,  introducing  Mr.  Bryan 36 

Hon.  William  J.  Bryan's  address 37 

Judge  Humphrey,  introducing  Senator  Dolliver. ...  52 

Senator  Dolliver's  address 53 

Senator  Cullom's  letter 60 

Hon.  Booker  T.  Washington's  letter 63 

Mr.  Charles  Henry  Butler's  poem 67 

At  the  Tabernacle;  mention 75 

Governor  Deneen,  introducing  Mr.  Jusserand 76 

Ambassador  Jusserand's  address .78 

Governor  Deneen,  introducing  Mr.  Bryce 82 

Ambassador  Bryce's  address 83 

Governor  Deneen,  introducing  Senator  Dolliver  ...  88 

Senator  Dolliver's  address 89 

Governor  Deneen,  introducing  Mr.  Bryan 113 

Hon.  William  J.  Bryan's  address 114 

At  St.  John's  Church;  mention 132 

Dr.  Thomas  D.  Logan's  address 133 

At  the  Court  House;  mention 159 

The  Memorial  Tablet 160 

Colonel  Mills,  introducing  Judge  Cartwright 164 

Judge  Cartwright's  address 166 

Colonel  Mills,  introducing  Judge  Creighton 174 

Judge  Creighton's  address 175 

At  the  High  School;  mention 182 

General  John  W.  Noble's  address 183 

At  the  Lincoln  Home ;  mention 208 

At  the  Historical  Library;  mention 209 

At  the  Executive  Mansion;  mention 210 

At  the  Lincoln  Tomb;  mention 211 

At  the  Country  Club;  mention 213 

The  Veteran  Guard  of  Honor;  list 214 

The  Illinois  Centennial  Commission;  list 216 

The  Lincoln  Centennial  Association;  list 217 


5789 


SENATE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  NO.  22 

WHEREAS,  The  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln  will  occur  on  the  12th 
day  of  February,  1909;  and, 

WHEREAS,  It  is  fitting  and  proper  that  the  State 
of  Illinois  should  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  this  greatest  of  all  American  statesmen; 
therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  the 
House  of  Representatives  concurring  therein,  That 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  be  celebrated  in  the  city  of 
Springfield  on  the  12th  day  of  February,  1909;  and, 
be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  is  hereby  authorized 
and  empowered  to  appoint  a  commission  of  fifteen 
representative  citizens  of  this  State  to  have  charge 
of  all  arrangements  for  such  celebration. 

Adopted  by  the  Senate,  October  8,  1907. 
Concurred  in  by  the  House,  October  9,  1907. 


STATE  CENTENNIAL  COMMISSION 

JOHN  W.  BUNN 
BEN  F.  CALDWELL 
EDWIN  L.  CHAPIN 
JAMES  A.  CONNOLLY 
JAMES  A.  CREIGHTON 
SHELBY  M*  CULLOM 
J  OTIS  HUMPHREY 
WILLIAM  JAYNE 
EDWARD  D.  KEYS 
ALFRED  ORENDORFF 
NICHOLAS  ROBERTS 
JAMES  A.  ROSE 
EDGAR  S.  SCOTT 
LAWRENCE  Y.  SHERMAN 
PHILIP  BARTON  WARREN 


LINCOLN    CENTENNIAL    ASSOCIATION 

[INCOKPORATORS] 

HON.  MELVILLE  W.  FULLER,  Chief  Justice  U.  S. 

Supreme  Court 

HON.  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM,  U.  S.  S. 
HON.  ALBERT  J.  HOPKINS,  U.  S.  S. 
HON.  JOSEPH  G.  CANNON,  M.  C. 
HON.  ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON 
HON.  CHARLES  S.  DENEEN,  Governor 
HON.  JOHN  P.  HAND,  Chief  Justice  Sup.  Court 
HON.  J  OTIS  HUMPHREY,  Judge  U.  S.  Dist.  Court 
HON.  JAMES  A.  ROSE,  Secretary  of  State 
HON.  BEN  F.  CALDWELL,  M.  C. 
HON.  RICHARD  YATES 
MELVILLE  E.  STONE,  Esq.,  New  York 
HORACE  WHITE,  Esq.,  New  York 
JOHN  W.  BUNN,  Esq. 
DR.  WILLIAM  JAYNE 


SUMMARY 


The  memorial  exercises,  celebrating  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  were  held  under  the  general  direction  of 
the  State  Centennial  commission,  working  in  con 
junction  with  the  Lincoln  Centennial  association, 
(incorporated)  and  consisted  of  a  number  of  dis 
tinct  events  so  arranged  as  not  to  conflict  with 
each  other  as  to  date  or  purpose.  Each  separate 
event  was  a  distinct  success  and  the  numbers  in 
attendance  were  limited  in  every  instance  by  the 
capacity  of  the  buildings  in  which  the  exercises 
were  held.  The  more  important  events  included 
in  these  memorial  exercises  were  as  follows: 

The  Armory  meeting,  at  which  addresses  were 
made  by  Ambassadors  Jusserand  and  Bryce  and 
by  Senator  Dolliver  and  Mr.  Bryan,  and  a  banquet 
served  to  800  guests; 

The  Tabernacle  meeting,  earlier  in  the  day,  at 
which  an  audience  of  10,000  was  addressed  by  the 
same  distinguished  speakers; 


Page  eight 

The  religious  services  held  at  St.  John's  Evan 
gelical  Lutheran  church  (formerly  the  First  Pres 
byterian  church  where  Mr.  Lincoln  worshiped 
while  living  in  Springfield)  at  which  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  D.  Logan  delivered  the  principal  address; 

The  Grand  Army  meeting  at  which  a  Lincoln 
tree  was  planted  in  the  Court  House  square  by 
the  veterans,  after  which  ceremony  they  marched 
to  the  Lincoln  tomb,  served  as  a  Guard  of  Honor 
during  the  day  and,  in  a  body,  attended  the  ban 
quet  at  night; 

The  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  meeting, 
at  which  addresses  were  delivered  by  Judges 
Cartwright  and  Creighton  and  a  memorial  tablet, 
marking  the  site  of  the  old  Lincoln  law  office,  was 
unveiled  at  109  North  Fifth  street; 

The  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  meet- 
ting,  consisting  of  a  reception  at  the  old  Lincoln 
home  and  a  luncheon  served  at  the  rooms  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  association; 

The  State  Historical  society  meeting  in  the 
library  at  the  State  Capitol  including  a  reception 
and  addresses; 


Page  nine 

The  High  School  meeting,  the  principal  feature 
of  which  was  the  address  of  Gen.  John  W.  Noble 
of  St.  Louis; 

An  informal  reception  at  the  Executive  Mansion 
at  which  the  guests  of  the  commission  together 
with  State  officials,  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court 
and  others  paid  their  respects  to  Governor  and 
Mrs.  Deneen; 

A  visit  to  the  Lincoln  tomb  participated  in  by 
the  guests  of  the  commission,  as  well  as  by  State 
and  city  officials  and  many  citizens  of  Springfield; 

An  informal  luncheon  served  at  the  home  of  the 
Illini  Country  Club  in  honor  of  the  city's  guests. 


Page  ten 


AT  THE  ARMORY 

The  principal  event  of  the  celebration  was  the 
banquet  in  the  evening  at  the  Armory.  Here 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  members  of  the  Centennial 
association  with  their  guests  were  seated  at 
seventy-one  tables,  and  the  galleries  were  filled 
with  spectators  and  auditors.  The  hall  of  the 
armory  was  brilliantly  illuminated  and  conspicu 
ous  among  the  decorations  were  the  national 
colors  of  France  and  of  England  mingled  with 
those  of  the  United  States.  Judge  J  Otis  Hum 
phrey  presided  as  toastmaster.  Addresses  were 
delivered  by  the  French  Ambassador,  the  British 
Ambassador,  Senator  Dolliver  and  Mr.  Bryan. 
Letters  of  regret  from  Senator  Cullom  and  Booker 
T.  Washington  were  read  and  a  poem  by  Charles 
Henry  Butler.  The  letters,  poem  and  addresses 
with  the  introductory  remarks  of  the  toastmaster 
are  given  on  the  following  pages. 


Page  eleven 


JUDGE  HUMPHREY 

Introducing  the  French  Ambassador 

Perhaps  never  again  in  any  presence  will  so 
many  of  his  old  associates  be  assembled  together 
to  do  honor  to  that  immortal  character  given  to 
the  world  by  the  great  republic.  We  are  in  the 
midst  of  a  universal  celebration  of  which  Spring 
field  is  recognized  as  the  center,  and  to  know 
what  is  said  and  done  here  today  the  world  is 
standing  at  attention.  Many  men  in  all  ages  have 
taught  lessons  of  patriotism:  Mr.  Lincoln  taught 
patriotism  plus  humanity.  He  knew  as  few  others 
have  known  the  lesson  that,  more  than  wealth, 
more  than  fame,  more  than  any  other  thing,  is 
the  power  of  the  human  heart. 

The  notion  has  long  been  prevalent  in  the  east 
and  to  some  extent  among  historians  of  the  period 
that  Mr.  Lincoln's  greatness  was  all  attained  after 
he  became  President.  Let  that  fallacy  be  forever 
set  at  rest.  True  it  is  that  the  general  recog 
nition  of  his  greatness  came  with  his  broadened 


Page  twelve 

opportunities,  but  his  old  friends  in  Illinois  had 
for  years  known  his  power  and  recognized  his 
strength. 

Those  who  had  worked  with  him  or  who  had 
opposed  him  in  the  arena  of  justice;  those  who 
were  factors  in  his  combinations  who  associated 
with  him  or  took  orders  from  him  in  his  various 
political  campaigns,  knew  his  subtle  diplomacy 
and  his  easy  mastery  of  men.  Some  of  those  men 
still  remain  to  us,  some  of  them  are  here  tonight. 
They  had  seen  him  convince  courts,  control  juries 
and  sway  the  masses;  they  heard  the  Bloomington 
speech  and  the  spell  of  it  is  still  over  them.  They 
knew  his  powers  of  expression,  his  moderation  of 
statement;  his  willingness  to  yield  nonessentials, 
his  immovable  adherence  to  what  he  regarded  as 
important.  They  saw  in  him  then  what  the  world 
sees  now,  a  rare  combination  of  gentleness,  genius 
and  strength.  So,  when  at  Washington  they  saw 
his  apparent  yielding  to  his  great  secretaries,  going 
Seward's  way  yesterday,  and  Chase's  way  today, 
and  Stanton's  way  tomorrow,  these  men  knew 
as  the  country  did  not  know,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
all  the  time  going  his  own  way  and  that  he  would 
carry  the  secretaries  with  him. 


Page  thirteen 

From  that  rugged  poet,  Edwin  Markham,  paint 
ing  him  in  colors  so  rich  that  I  could  never  hope  to 
equal  them,  we  learn  that: 

When  the  Norn-Mother  saw  the  Whirlwind  Hour, 
Greatening  and  darkening  as  it  hurried  on, 
She  bent  the  strenuous  Heavens  and  came  down 
To  make  a  man  to  meet  the  mortal  need. 
She  took  the  tried  clay  of  the  common  road — 
Clay  warm  yet  with  the  genial  heat  of  Earth, 
Dashed  through  it  all  a  strain  of  prophesy; 
Then  mixed  a  laughter  with  the  serious  stuff. 
It  was  a  stuff  to  wear  for  centuries, 
A  man  that  matched  the  mountains  and  compelled 
The  stars  to  look  our  way  and  honor  us. 

The  color  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth; 

The  tang  and  odor  of  the  primal  things — 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  rocks; 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea; 

The  justice  of  the  rain  that  loves  all  leaves; 

The  pity  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars; 

The  loving  kindness  of  the  wayside  well; 

The  tolerance  and  equity  of  light  that  gives  as  freely  to 

The  shrinking  weed  as  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind — 

The  grave's  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 

That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

And  so  he  came. 

From  prairie  cabin  to  the  Capital, 
One  fair  Ideal  led  our  chieftain  on. 
Forevermore  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 


Page  fourteen 

With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king. 
He  built  the  rail  pile  as  he  built  the  state, 
Pouring  his  splended  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke, 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 

So  came  the  Captain  with  the  mighty  heart; 
And  when  the  step  of  Earthquake  shook  the  house, 
Wrenching  the  rafters  from  their  ancient  hold, 
He  held  the  ridge  pole  up,  and  spiked  again 
The  rafters  of  the  Home.     He  held  his  place — 
Held  the  long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree — 
Held  on  through  blame  and  faltered  not  at  praise. 
And  when  he  fell  in  Whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  kingly  cedar  green  with  boughs 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills, 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  place  against  the  sky. 

Since  colonial  days  France  has  been  the  con 
stant  friend  of  America;  in  the  recent  generations 
when  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  caught  up  in  the 
mighty  sweep  of  God's  purposes,  have  been  tend 
ing  more  and  more  toward  representative  govern 
ment,  these  two  nations  have  been  marching  in 
the  front  rank;  each  has  taught  her  citizens  to 
speak  plain,  the  great  sweet  word,  Liberty;  each 
has  experienced  the  difficulty  of  teaching  that 
the  sovereignty  of  self  over  self  is  the  highest 
liberty;  each  has  taught  that  as  liberty  is  the 
summit  of  society,  so  equality  before  the  law  is 


Page  fifteen 

the  basis  of  organized  government;  each  has  stood 
to  the  other,  sometimes  as  an  example  and  some 
times  a  warning,  and  these  lessons  of  history  have 
been  profitable  to  both. 

The  greatest  republic  of  the  old  world  greets 
us  tonight  in  the  person  of  one  of  her  most  dis 
tinguished  citizens.  Gentlemen,  I  have  pleasure 
in  presenting  the  scholar,  the  author,  the  diplo 
matist,  His  Excellency,  Mr.  J.  J.  Jusserand,  the 
French  Ambassador. 


Page  liileen 


THE  FRENCH  AMBASSADOR 

Abraham  Lincoln  as  France  Regarded  Him 

On  two  tragic  occasions,  at  a  century's  distance, 
the  fate  of  this  country  has  trembled  in  the  bal 
ance:  Would  it  be  a  free  nation?  Would  it 
continue  to  be  one  nation?  A  leader  was  wanted 
on  both  occasions,  a  very  different  one  in  each 
case.  This  boon  from  above  was  granted  to  the 
American  people  who  had  a  Washington  when 
a  Washington  was  needed  and  a  Lincoln  when 
a  Lincoln  could  save  them. 

Both  had  enemies,  both  had  doubters,  but  both 
were  recognized  by  all  open-minded  people  and, 
above  all,  by  the  nation  at  large,  as  the  men  to 
shape  the  nation's  destinies.  When  the  Marquis 
de  Chastellux  came  to  America  as  chief  of  staff 
in  the  army  of  Rochambeau,  his  first  thought  was 
to  go  and  see  his  friend  Lafayette  and,  at  the 
same  time,  Washington.  He  has  noted  in  his 
memoirs  what  were,  on  first  sight,  his  impressions 
of  the  not  yet  victorious,  not  yet  triumphant,  not 
yet  universally  admired  American  patriot: 


Page  seventeen 

"I  saw,"  he  said,  "M.  de  Lafayette  talking 
in  the  yard  with  a  tall  man  of  5  feet  9  inches,  of 
noble  mien  and  sweet  face.  It  was  the  general 
himself.  I  dismounted  and  soon  felt  myself  at 
my  ease  by  the  side  of  the  greatest  and  best  of 
all  men.  All  who  meet  him  trust  him,  but  no 
one  is  familiar  with  him,  because  the  sentiment 
he  inspires  to  all  has  ever  the  same  cause;  a  pro 
found  esteem  for  his  virtues  and  the  highest 
opinion  of  his  talents. "  So  wrote  a  foreigner  who 
was  not  Lafayette,  who  suddenly  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  the  great  man.  Any  chance 
comer,  any  passer-by  would  have  been  similarly 
impressed.  He  inspired  confidence  and  those 
who  saw  him  felt  that  the  fate  of  the  country  was 
safe  in  his  hands. 

A  century  of  almost  unbroken  prosperity  had 
nearly  elapsed  when  came  the  hour  of  the  nation's 
second  trial.  Though  it  may  seem  to  us  a  small 
matter  compared  with  what  we  have  seen  since, 
the  development  had  been  considerable;  the  scat 
tered  colonies  of  yore  had  become  a  great  nation, 
and  now  it  seemed  as  if  all  was  in  doubt  again; 
the  nation  was  young,  wealthy,  powerful,  pros- 

— 2  L  C 


Page  eighteen 

perous;  it  had  immense  domains  and  resources; 
yet  it  seemed  as  if  her  fate  would  parallel  those 
of  old  empires  described  by  Tacitus,  which,  with 
out  foes,  crumble  to  pieces  under  their  own  weight. 
Within  her  own  frontiers  elements  of  destruction 
or  disruption  had  been  growing;  hatreds  were  em 
bittered  among  people  equally  brave,  bold  and 
sure  of  their  rights.  The  edifice  raised  by  Wash 
ington  was  trembling  on  its  base;  a  catastrophe 
was  at  hand.  Then  it  was  that  in  the  middle- 
sized,  not  yet  world-famous  town,  Chicago  by 
name,  the  republican  convention  called  there  for 
the  first  time,  met  to  choose  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  It  has  met  there  again  since,  and  has 
made,  each  time,  a  remarkable  choice. 

In  1860  it  chose  a  man  whom  my  predecessor 
of  those  days,  announcing  the  news  to  his  govern 
ment,  described  as  "a  man  almost  unknown,  Mr. 
Abraham  Lincoln. "  Almost  unknown  was  he,  in 
deed,  at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  and  the  news 
of  his  selection  was  received  with  anxiety.  My 
country,  France,  was  then  governed  by  Napoleon 
III;  all  liberals  had  their  eyes  fixed  on  America. 
Your  example  was  the  great  example  which  gave 
heart  to  our  most  progressive  men.  You  had 


Page  nineteen 

proved  that  republican  government  was  possible, 
by  having  one.  If  it  broke  to  pieces,  so  would 
the  hopes  of  all  those  among  us  who  expected 
that  one  day  we  would  have  the  same.  And  the 
partisans  of  autocracy  were  loud  in  their  assertion 
that  a  republic  was  well  and  good  for  a  country 
without  enemies  or  neighbors  but  that,  if  a  storm 
arose,  it  would  be  shattered.  A  storm  arose  and 
the  helm  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  that 
man  almost  unknown,  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln. 
"We  still  remember,"  wrote,  years  later,  the  illus 
trious  French  writer,  Prevost-Paradol,  "the  un 
easiness  with  which  we  awaited  the  first  words 
of  that  President  then  unknown,  upon  whom  a 
heavy  task  had  fallen  and  from  whose  advent 
to  power  might  be  dated  the  ruin  or  regeneration 
of  his  country.  All  we  knew  was  that  he  had 
sprung  up  from  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  that 
his  youth  had  been  spent  in  manual  labor;  that, 
he  had  then  risen  by  degrees  in  his  town,  in  his 
county  and  in  his  state.  What  was  this  favorite 
of  the  people?  Democratic  societies  are  liable  to 
errors  which  are  fatal  to  them.  But  as  soon  as 
Mr.  Lincoln  arrived  in  Washington,  as  soon  as 
he  spoke,  all  our  doubts  and  fears  were  dissipated ; 


Page  twenty 

and  it  seemed  to  us  that  fate  itself  had  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  good  cause,  since,  in  such  an  emer 
gency,  it  had  given  to  the  country  an  honest 


man. ' 


The  first  words  (the  now  famous  inaugural 
address)  had  been,  for  Prevost-Paradol  and  for 
millions  of  others,  what  a  first  glance  at  Wash 
ington  had  been  for  Chastellux,  a  revelation  that 
the  man  was  a  man,  a  great  and  honest  one,  and 
that,  once  more,  the  fate  of  the  country,  at  an 
awful  period,  had  been  placed  in  safe  hands. 

Well  indeed  might  people  have  wondered  and 
felt  anxious  when  they  remembered  how  little 
training  in  great  affairs  the  new  ruler  had  had 
and  the  incredible  difficulties  of  the  problems  he 
would  have  to  solve;  his  heart  bleeding  at  the 
very  thought,  for  he  had  to  fight  "not  enemies, 
but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies."  No 
romance  of  adventure  reads  more  like  a  romance 
than  the  true  story  of  Lincoln 's  youth  and  of  the 
wanderings  of  his  family  from  Virginia  to  Ken 
tucky,  from  Kentucky  to  Indiana,  from  Indiana 
to  the  newly-formed  state  of  Illinois,  having  first 
to  clear  a  part  of  the  forest  to  build  a  doorless, 
windowless  cabin,  with  one  room  for  all  the  uses 


Page  twenty-one 

of  them  all;  Lincoln,  the  grandson  of  a  man  killed 
by  the  Indians,  the  son  of  a  father  who  never 
succeeded  in  anything,  and  whose  utmost  literary 
accomplishment  consisted  in  signing  with  great 
difficulty,  his  own  name — an  accomplishment  he 
had  in  common  with  the  father  of  Shakespeare; 
the  whole  family  leading  a  sort  of  life  in  compari 
son  with  which  that  of  Robinson  Crusoe  was  one 
of  sybaritic  enjoyment.  That  in  those  trackless, 
neighborless,  bookless  parts  of  the  country  he 
could  learn  and  educate  himself  was  the  first  great 
wonder  of  his  life;  it  showed,  once  more,  that 
learning  does  not  so  much  depend  upon  the  mas 
ter's  teaching  as  upon  the  pupil's  desire. 

But  no  book,  no  school,  no  talk  with  refined 
men,  would  have  taught  him  what  his  rough 
life  did.  Confronted  every  day  and  every  hour 
of  the  day  with  problems  which  had  to  be  solved, 
he  got  the  habit  of  seeing,  deciding  and  acting 
by  himself.  Accustomed  from  childhood  to  live 
surrounded  by  the  unknown  and  meet  the  unex 
pected,  his  soul  learnt  to  be  astonished  at  nothing 
and,  instead  of  losing  any  time  in  wondering,  to 
seek  at  once  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  What 
the  forest,  what  the  swamp,  what  the  river  taught 


Page  twenty-two 

Lincoln  cannot  be  over-estimated.  After  long 
years  of  it,  and  shorter  years  at  long-vanished 
New  Salem,  here  at  Springfield,  at  Vandalia,  the 
former  capital,  where  he  met  some  descendants 
of  his  precursors  in  the  forest,  the  French  "  Cour- 
eurs  de  bois,"  almost  suddenly  he  found  himself 
transferred  to  the  post  of  greatest  honor  and 
greatest  danger.  And  what  then  would  say  the 
"man  almost  unknown/7  the  backwoodsman  of 
yesterday?  What  would  he  say?  What  did  he 
say?  THE  RIGHT  THING. 

He  was  accustomed  not  to  be  surprised,  but 
to  decide  and  act.  And  so,  confronted  with  cir 
cumstances  which  were  so  extraordinary  as  to  be 
new  to  all,  he  was  the  man  least  astonished  in 
the  government.  His  rough  and  shrewd  instinct 
proved  of  better  avail  than  the  clever  minds  of 
his  more  refined  and  better  instructed  seconds. 
It  was  Lincoln's  instinct  which  checked  Seward's 
complicated  schemes  and  dangerous  calculations. 
Lincoln  could  not  calculate  so  cleverly  but  he 
could  guess  better. 

His  instinct,  his  good  sense,  his  personal  dis 
interestedness,  his  warmth  of  heart  for  friend  and 
foe,  his  high  aims,  led  him  through  the  awful 


Page  twenty-three 

years  of  anguish  and  bloodshed  during  which 
ceaselessly  increased  the  number  of  fields  decked 
with  tombs  and  no  one  knew  whether  there  would 
be  one  powerful  nation  or  two  weaker  ones,  the 
odds  were  so  great.  They  led  him  through  the 
worst  and  through  the  best  hours,  and  that  of 
triumph  found  him  none  other  than  what  he  had 
ever  been  before,  a  man  of  duty,  the  devoted  ser 
vant  of  his  country,  with  deeper  furrows  on  his  face 
and  more  melancholy  in  his  heart.  And  so,  after 
having  saved  the  nation,  he  went  to  his  doom 
and  fell,  as  he  had  long  foreseen,  a  victim  to  the 
cause  for  which  he  had  fought. 

The  emotion  caused  by  the  event  was  immense. 
Among  my  compatriots,  part  were  for  the  south, 
part  for  the  north;  they  should  not  be  blamed; 
it  was  the  same  in  America.  But  the  whole  of 
those  who  had  liberal  ideas,  the  bulk  of  the  nation, 
considered  neither  north  nor  south  and  thought 
only  whether  the  republic  would  survive  and  con 
tinue  a  great  republic  or  be  shattered  to  pieces. 
The  efforts  of  Lincoln  to  preserve  the  Union  were 
followed  with  keen  anxiety  and  the  fervent  hope 
that  he  would  succeed. 


Page  twenty-four 

When  the  catastrophe  happened  there  were  no 
more  differences  and  the  whole  French  nation 
was  united  in  feeling.  From  the  emperor  and 
empress,  who  telegraphed  to  Mrs.  Lincoln,  to  the 
humblest  workman,  the  emotion  was  the  same;  a 
wave  of  sympathy  covered  the  country,  such  a 
one  as  was  never  seen  before.  A  subscription 
was  opened  to  have  a  medal  struck  and  a  copy 
in  gold  presented  to  Mrs.  Lincoln.  In  order  that 
it  might  be  a  truly  national  offering,  it  was  decided 
that  no  one  would  be  permitted  to  subscribe  more 
than  2  cents.  The  necessary  money  was  collected 
in  an  instant  and  the  medal  was  struck,  bearing 
these  memorable  words:  "Dedicated  by  French 
democracy  to  Lincoln,  honest  man,  who  abolished 
slavery,  re-established  the  Union,  saved  the  re 
public  without  veiling  the  statue  of  Liberty." 

The  French  press  was  unanimous;  from  the 
royalist  Gazette  de  France  to  the  liberal  Journal 
des  Debats  came  forth  the  same  expression  of 
admiration  and  sorrow.  "A  Christian,"  said  the 
Gazette  de  France,  "  has  just  ascended  before  the 
throne  of  the  Final  Judge,  accompanied  by  the 
souls  of  four  millions  of  slaves  created  like  ours 
in  the  image  of  God,  and  who  have  been  endowed 


Page  twenty-five 

with  freedom  by  a  word  from  him."  Prevost- 
Paradol,  a  member  of  the  French  academy  and  a 
prominent  liberal,  wrote:  "The  political  instinct 
which  made  enlightened  Frenchmen  interested  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  American  power,  more 
and  more  necessary  to  the  equilibrium  of  the 
world ;  the  desire  to  see  a  great  democratic  state 
surmount  terrible  trials  and  continue  to  give  an 
example  of  the  most  perfect  liberty  united  with 
the  most  absolute  equality,  assured  the  cause  of 
the  north  a  number  of  friends  among  us.  *  *  * 
Lincoln  was  indeed  an  honest  man,  giving  to  the 
word  its  full  meaning,  or  rather  the  sublime  sense 
which  belongs  to  it,  when  honesty  was  to  contend 
with  the  severest  trials  which  can  agitate  states, 
and  with  events  which  have  influence  on  the  fate 
of  the  world.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  but  one  object 
in  view  from  the  day  of  his  election  to  that  of  his 
death,  namely,  the  fulfillment  of  his  duty,  and 
his  imagination  never  carried  him  beyond  it.  He 
has  fallen  at  the  very  foot  of  the  altar,  covering 
it  with  his  blood.  But  his  work  was  done,  and 
the  spectacle  of  a  rescued  republic  was  what  he 
could  look  upon  with  consolation  when  his  eyes 
were  closing  in  death.  Moreover,  he  has  not 


Page  twenty-six 

lived  for  his  country  alone,  since  he  leaves  to 
everyone  in  the  world  to  whom  liberty  and  justice 
are  dear,  a  great  remembrance  and  a  pure  ex 
ample.  " 

When,  in  a  log  cabin  in  Kentucky,  a  hundred 
years  ago  this  day,  that  child  was  born  who  was 
named  after  his  grandfather  killed  by  the  Indians, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Napoleon  I  swayed  Europe, 
Jefferson  was  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  second  war  of  independence  had  not  yet  come 
to  pass.  It  seems  all  very  remote.  But  the 
memory  of  the  great  man  whom  we  try  to  honor 
today  is  as  fresh  in  everybody's  mind  as  if  he  had 
only  just  left  us.  "It  is,"  says  Plutarch,  "the 
fortune  of  all  good  men  that  their  virtue  rises  in 
glory  after  their  death,  and  that  the  envy  which 
any  evil  man  may  have  conceived  against  them 
never  survives  the  envious. "  Such  was  the  fate 
of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


Page  twenty-seven 


JUDGE  HUMPHREY 

Introducing  the  British  Ambassador 

There  is  a  nation  which  governs  one  acre  in 
five  of  the  territory  of  the  earth  and  one  person 
in  five  of  the  population  of  the  world.  It  is 
developed  out  of  Briton  and  Phoenician  and  Roman 
and  Saxon  and  Dane  and  Norman.  Amid  the 
shifting  sands  of  government  it  stands  as  a  rock 
of  empire.  A  people  governed  not  by  a  written 
constitution  but  by  a  working,  worldly  wisdom; 
where  efficient  results  of  government  are  accom 
panied  with  the  least  machinery  of  government; 
where  there  is  order  without  despotism  and  liberty 
without  license;  where  lynch  law  is  unknown; 
where  justice  is  certain  and  as  prompt  as  certain. 

One  of  the  most  gifted  sons  of  Great  Britain 
honors  us  with  his  presence  tonight.  So  surely 
has  he  a  fixed  place  in  the  intellectual  world, 
that  students  of  modern  political  systems  look 
to  him  as  master  and  guide.  So  wisely  has  he 
written  of  our  own  political  institutions  that 


Page  twenty-eight 

American  scholars  sit  at  his  feet  and  drink  in  the 
learning  of  his  noble  mind.  He  is  the  ripened 
fruit  of  centuries  of  Anglo-Saxon  progress. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  His  Excellency, 
The  Right  Honorable  James  Bryce,  The  British 
Ambassador. 


Page  twenty-nine 


THE  BRITISH  AMBASSADOR 

Some  Reflections  on  the  Character  and  Career  of 

Lincoln 

You  are  met  to  commemorate  a  great  man,  one 
of  your  greatest,  great  in  what  he  did,  even  greater 
in  what  he  was.  One  hundred  years  have  passed 
since  in  a  lowly  hut  in  the  bordering  state  of  Ken 
tucky  this  child  of  obscure  and  unlettered  parents 
was  born  into  a  country  then  still  wild  and  thinly 
peopled.  Three  other  famous  men  were  born  in 
that  same  year  in  England:  Alfred  Tennyson, 
the  most  gifted  poet  who  has  used  our  language 
since  Wordsworth  died;  William  Gladstone,  the 
most  powerful,  versatile  and  high-minded  states 
man  of  the  last  two  generations  in  Britain,  and 
Charles  Darwin,  the  greatest  naturalist  since  Lin 
naeus,  and  chief  among  the  famous  scientific  dis 
coverers  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  a 
wonderful  year,  and  one  who  knew  these  three 
illustrious  Englishmen  whom  I  have  named  is 
tempted  to  speak  of  them  and  compare  and  con- 


Page  thirty 

trast  each  one  of  them  with  that  illustrious  con 
temporary  of  theirs  whose  memory  we  are  met  to 
honor.  He  quitted  this  world  long  before  them 
but  with  a  record  to  which  a  long  life  could  scarcely 
have  added  any  further  lustre. 

Of  the  personal  impression  he  made  on  those  who 
knew  him,  you  will  hear  from  some  of  the  few  yet 
living  who  can  recollect  him.  All  I  can  contribute 
is  a  reminiscence  of  what  reached  us  in  England. 
I  was  an  undergraduate  student  in  the  University 
of  Oxford  when  the  civil  war  broke  out.  Well  do 
I  remember  the  surprise  when  the  Republican 
national  convention  nominated  him  as  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  for  it  had  been  expected  that 
the  choice  would  fall  upon  William  H.  Seward.  I 
recollect  how  it  slowly  dawned  upon  Europeans  in 
1862  and  1863  that  the  President  could  be  no  or 
dinary  man,  because  he  never  seemed  cast  down 
by  the  reverses  which  befell  his  armies;  because  he 
never  let  himself  be  hurried  into  premature  action 
nor  feared  to  take  so  bold  a  step  as  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation  was  when  he  saw  that  the  time 
had  arrived.  And  above  all  I  remember  the  shock 
of  awe  and  grief  which  thrilled  all  Britain  when 
the  news  came  that  he  had  perished  by  the  bullet 


Page  thirty-one 

of  an  assassin.  There  have  been  not  a  few  murders 
of  the  heads  of  states  in  our  time,  but  none  smote 
us  with  such  horror  and  such  pity  as  the  death  of 
this  great,  strong  and  merciful  man  in  the  moment 
when  his  long  and  patient  efforts  had  been  crowned 
with  victory  and  peace  had  just  begun  to  shed  her 
rays  over  a  land  laid  waste  by  the  march  of  armies. 

We  in  England  already  felt  then  that  a  great  as 
well  as  a  good  man  had  departed,  though  it  re 
mained  for  later  years  to  enable  us  all  (both  you 
here  and  we  in  the  other  hemisphere)  fully  to  appre 
ciate  his  greatness.  Both  among  you  and  with  us 
his  fame  has  continued  to  rise  till  he  has  now  be 
come  one  of  the  grandest  figures  whom  America 
has  given  to  world  history  to  be  a  glory  first  of 
this  country,  then  also  of  mankind. 

A  man  may  be  great  by  intellect  or  by  character 
or  by  both.  The  highest  men  are  great  by  both; 
and  of  these  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  Endowed 
with  powers  that  were  solid  rather  than  shining, 
he  was  not  what  is  called  a  brilliant  man.  Perhaps 
the  want  of  instruction  and  stimulation  during  his 
early  life  prevented  his  naturally  vigorous  mind 
from  learning  how  to  work  nimbly.  The  disad 
vantages  of  his  boyhood,  the  want  of  books  and 


Page  thirty-two 

teachers,  were  so  met  and  overcome  by  his  love  of 
knowledge  and  his  strenuous  will  that  he  drew 
strength  from  them.  Thoughtfulness  and  inten 
sity,  the  capacity  to  reflect  steadily  and  patiently 
on  a  problem  till  it  has  been  solved  is  one  of  the  two 
most  distinct  impressions  which  one  gets  from  that 
strong,  rugged  face  with  its  furrowed  brow  and 
deep-set  eyes. 

The  other  impression  is  that  of  unshaken  and 
unshakable  resolution.  Slow  in  reaching  a  decision 
he  held  fearlessly  to  it  when  he  had  reached  it.  He 
had  not  merely  physical  courage  and  that  in  ample 
measure,  but  the  rarer  quality  of  being  willing  to 
face  misconception  and  unpopularity.  It  was  his 
dauntless  courage  and  his  clear  thinking  that  fitted 
Lincoln  to  be  the  pilot  who  brought  your  ship 
through  the  wildest  tempest  that  ever  broke  upon 
her. 

Three  points  should  not  be  forgotten  which,  if 
they  do  not  add  to  Lincoln's  greatness,  make  it 
more  attractive.  One  is  the  fact  that  he  rose  all 
unaided  to  the  pinnacle  of  power  and  responsibility. 
Rarely  indeed  has  it  happened  in  history,  hardly  at 
all  could  it  have  happened  in  the  last  century  out 
side  America,  that  one  born  in  poverty,  with  no 


Page  thirty-three 

help  throughout  his  youth  from  intercourse  with 
educated  people,  with  no  friend  to  back  him  except 
those  whom  the  impression  of  his  own  personality 
brought  round  him,  should  so  rise.  A  second  is 
the  gentleness  of  his  heart.  He  who  has  to  refuse 
every  hour  requests  from  those  whom  a  private 
person  would  have  been  glad  to  indulge,  he  who 
has  to  punish  those  whom  a  private  person  would 
pity  and  pardon,  can  seldom  retain  either  tender 
ness  or  patience.  But  Lincoln's  tenderness  and 
patience  were  inexhaustible. 

It  is  often  said  that  every  great  man  is  unscrup 
ulous,  and  doubtless  most  of  those  to  whom  usage 
has  attached  the  title  have  been  so.  To  preserve 
truthfulness  and  conscientiousness  appears  scarcely 
possible  in  the  stress  of  life  where  immense  issues 
seem  to  make  it  necessary  and  therefore  make  it 
right  to  toss  aside  the  ordinary  rules  of  conduct  in 
order  to  secure  the  end  desired.  To  Abraham 
Lincoln,  however,  truthfulness  and  conscientious 
ness  remained  the  rule  of  life.  He  felt  and  owned 
his  responsibility  not  only  to  the  people  but  to  a 
higher  power.  Few  men  have  so  stainless  a  record. 


— 3  L  C 


Page  thirty-four 

To  you,  men  of  Illinois,  Lincoln  is  the  most  fa 
mous  and  worthy  of  all  those  who  have  adorned  your 
commonwealth.  To  you,  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  he  is  the  president  who  carried  you  through 
a  terrible  conflict  and  saved  the  Union.  To  us  in 
England  he  is  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  race  whence 
you  and  we  spring.  We  honor  his  memory  as  you 
do,  and  it  is  fitting  that  one  who  is  privileged  here 
to  represent  the  land  from  which  his  forefathers 
came  should  bring  on  behalf  of  England  a  tribute 
of  admiration  for  him  and  of  thankfulness  to  the 
Providence  which  gave  him  to  you  in  your  hour  of 
need. 

Great  men  are  the  noblest  possession  of  a  nation 
and  are  potent  forces  in  the  moulding  of  national 
character.  Their  influence  lives  after  them  and,  if 
they  be  good  as  well  as  great,  they  remain  as  bea 
cons  lighting  the  course  of  all  who  follow  them. 
They  set  for  succeeding  generations  the  standards 
of  the  youth  who  seek  to  emulate  their  virtues  in 
the  service  of  the  country.  Thus  did  the  memory 
of  George  Washington  stir  and  rouse  Lincoln  him 
self.  Thus  will  the  memory  of  Lincoln  live  and 
endure  among  you,  gathering  reverence  from  age 
to  age,  the  memory  of  one  who  saved  your  republic 


Page  thirty-five 

by  his  wisdom,  his  constancy,  his  faith  in  the  people 
and  in  freedom;  the  memory  of  a  plain  and  simple 
man,  yet  crowned  with  the  knightly  virtues  of 
truthfulness,  honor  and  courage. 


Page  thirty-six 


JUDGE  HUMPHREY 

Introducing  Mr.   Bryan 

An  eminent  American,  whose  words  have  repeat 
edly  touched  the  hearts  and  moved  the  minds  of 
the  people  of  the  land,  should  need  no  introduction 
at  my  hands.  Primarily  he  belongs  to  Illinois; 
sister  states  or  the  nation  may  adopt  him,  but  to 
us  he  will  ever  be  hailed  as  a  son  of  Illinois.  With 
a  generous  pride  in  the  achievements  he  has 
wrought;  with  a  full  recognition  of  the  purity  of  his 
private  life  which  makes  him  an  example  for  the 
youth  of  the  land;  with  a  love  which  the  zeal  of 
party  politics  can  never  destroy,  let  us  say  to  him 
tonight,  welcome  home,  Mr.  Bryan! 


Page  thirty-seven 


HON.  WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN 

The  Art  of  Government 

I  appreciate  this  cordial  welcome  to  the  State 
of  my  birth.  I  am  glad  that  there  is  an  interim 
between  campaigns  when  we  can  forget  the  an 
imosities  aroused  by  party  strife  and  come  face 
to  face  with  the  fact  that  the  things  that  we  hold 
in  common  are  more  numerous  and  more  impor 
tant  than  our  political  differences. 

In  a  country  where  parties  govern  and  where 
people  act  through  parties,  we  are  apt  to  over 
estimate  the  importance  of  the  questions  upon 
which  we  divide  and  under-estimate  the  enduring 
qualities  that  underlie  all  parties  and  unite  us  in  a 
common  citizenship. 

I  appreciate  the  more  than  generous  words  that 
have  been  spoken  in  presenting  me  to  you  and  I 
appreciate  the  splendid  opportunity  that  this  oc 
casion  has  given  us  to  hear  from  the  representa 
tives  of  foreign  lands.  I  think  Great  Britain  and 
France  have  paid  our  country  a  high  compliment 


Page  thirty-fight 

in  sending  as  their  representatives  two  such  men 
as  those  to  whom  we  have  listened.  A  compli 
ment,  I  say,  those  nations  have  paid  us  in  sending 
us  representatives  who  stand  upon  their  own  merits 
and  accomplishments  and  need  no  high  titles  to 
command  universal  respect  and  admiration. 

I  am  glad  we  live  in  a  day  when  nations  can  be 
friendly  to  each  other,  and  each  bid  all  others 
God  speed,  for  we  have  reached  the  day  when  we 
understand  that  as  the  citizen  can  wish  welLto 
every  other  citizen,  that  as  the  citizen  can  recognize 
that  his  own  good  is  best  promoted  by  the  highest 
development  of  all  about  him,  so  each  nation  can 
recognize  that  its  welfare  is  not  impeded  but  ad 
vanced  by  the  advancement  of  all  the  other 
nations. 

I  am  glad  we  have  reached  the  day  when  nations 
do  not  look  upon  each  other  with  envious  eye  or 
begrudge  each  other  any  great  success;  when  the 
rivalry  is  not  to  see  which  can  do  the  other  harm 
but  to  see  which  can  hold  highest  the  light  that 
guides  all  to  higher  ground. 

The  subject  that  I  have  selected  for  this  evening 
is  really  too  large  a  subject  for  an  occasion  of  this 
kind,  and  you  must  not  expect  my  speech  to  have 


Page  thirty-nine 

a  length  commensurate  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
theme;  for,  coming  as  I  do,  after  the  speech  of  the 
toastmaster,  after  the  speeches  of  the  ambassadors 
from  Great  Britain  and  France,  coming  as  I  do 
before  one  to  whom  you  will  listen  with  delight,  I 
cannot  violate  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  by  a 
speech  of  any  considerable  length;  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  at  this  time  it  is  fitting  to  submit  just  a  few 
words  on  The  Royal  Art  of  Government,  for  it  has 
be§n  so  described  and  fitly  described. 

The  art  of  government  is  not  only  the  art  in 
which  kings  have  sought  to  manifest  their  ability, 
but  it  is  the  art  that  comes  into  closest  and  most 
constant  contact  with  the  citizen,  and  I  might  give 
you  two  reasons  for  selecting  that  subject  for  to 
night;  first,  because  Lincoln  illustrates,  as  few  men 
in  history  have  illustrated,  the  possibilities  of  our 
government  and  the  stimulus  to  greatness  that  a 
republic  can  give;  and  the  second  is  that  Lincoln 
was  an  artist  in  the  art  of  government,  and  pos 
sessed  as  few  men  in  high  position  have  ever  pos 
sessed,  all  of  the  qualities  that  tend  to  fit  one  for 
the  exalted  work  of  a  chief  executive. 

Let  me  briefly  enumerate  some  of  these  qualities. 
He  had  a  sense  of  responsibility — no  man  more  so. 


Page  forty 

The  relation  between  himself  and  his  God  was  one 
clearly  defined  in  his  own  mind.  He  recognized 
that  to  that  Supreme  Being  he  was  responsible  for 
every  thought  and  word  and  act. 

There  is  a  world  of  difference  between  the  man 
who  is  trying  to  conform  to  an  opinion  about  him, 
and  the  man  who  is  trying  to  approximate  his  liv 
ing  to  a  high  standard — a  world  of  difference  be 
tween  the  man  who  is  trying  to  do  right  when  he 
thinks  the  people  are  looking  at  him,  and  the  man 
who  tries  to  do  right  because  he  believes  the  eye  of 
God  is  ever  upon  him. 

The  man  who  is  trying  to  do  right  when  he 
thinks  people  are  watching,  will  find  a  time,  some 
times,  when  he  thinks  the  people  are  not  looking, 
and  then  he  takes  a  vacation  and  falls.  I  believe 
that  one  of  the  reasons  why  Lincoln  lived  his  life 
without  a  fall  was  that  he  was  not  watching  the 
people  around  him,  but  acted  in  the  belief  that  he 
was  watched  by  One  who  never  sleeps. 

Another  quality — Lincoln  used  self-control.  The 
man  who  would  govern  others  must  first  govern 
himself;  and  when  he  has  learned  to  govern  himself, 
he  has  taken  the  next  step  toward  meeting  the  re 
sponsibilities  of  high  positions.  "He  that  ruleth 


Page  forty-one 

his  own  spirit  is  greater  than  he  that  taketh  a 
city ; "  and  Lincoln  was  the  undisputed  ruler  of  him 
self  and  of  his  own  spirit. 

He  had  humility.  Few  men  so  great  have  been 
so  humble  as  he.  Humility  is  a  hard  virtue  to 
cultivate.  If  a  man  has  great  wealth,  he  is  apt  to 
be  proud  of  his  wealth.  If  he  has  great  learning, 
he  is  likely  to  be  proud  of  his  learning.  If  he  has 
distinguished  ancestry,  he  is  quite  sure  to  be  proud 
of  his  pedigree,  and  someone  has  said  that  humility 
is  so  difficult  a  virtue  to  cultivate  that,  if  one  really 
becomes  humble,  he  is  soon  proud  of  his  humility! 
But  Lincoln's  favorite  poem  was  "  Why  Should  the 
Spirit  of  Mortal  be  Proud?" 

Lincoln  understood  how  little  of  any  man's  great 
ness  is  really  a  self-made  greatness.  Lincoln  un 
derstood,  as  few  have  understood,  how  much  we 
owe  to  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  and  to 
those  about  us. 

Who  will  measure  our  obligation  to  those  who 
laid  foundations  for  our  Republic !  Who  will  meas 
ure  our  obligation  to  those  who  surrounded  us  with 
the  privileges  that  we  enjoy!  When  we  come  to 
analyze  our  accomplishments,  we  find  that  that 
which  can  be  properly  traced  to  ourselves  is  infin- 


Page  forty-two 

itesimal,  while  that  which  is  traceable  to  the  influ 
ence  that  others  have  exerted  upon  us  is  immeasur 
able. 

Lincoln  had  courage.  As  has  been  well  said  by 
the  distinguished  ambassador  from  Great  Britain, 
Lincoln  had  moral  courage.  The  world  recognizes 
the  courage  of  the  man  who  walks  up  to  the  mouth 
of  the  cannon  and  without  wavering  gives  his  life 
on  his  country's  altar.  I  say  to  you,  my  friends, 
that  man  shares  physical  courage  with  the  beast, 
but  he  shares  moral  courage  with  Him  in  whose 
image  he  was  made. 

Lincoln  had  the  courage  to  face  any  kind  of  op 
position,  to  meet  any  kind  of  criticism,  to  disregard 
any  kind  of  ridicule.  And  why?  Because  he  had 
another  virtue.  He  had  faith.  If  you  tell  me  that 
"  works  are  more  important  than  faith, "  I  tell  you 
that  there  are  no  works  until  there  is  first  a  faith  to 
inspire  the  works. 

Only  those  who  believe  do  great  things;  and 
Lincoln  believed.  Lincoln  had  patience,  and  only 
those  who  have  faith  have  patience;  only  those  who 
can  see  that  there  is  a  triumph  coming  have 
the  patience  to  wait  until  it  comes.  Aye,  Lincoln 
needed  patience,  as  everyone  in  such  a  position  as 


Page  forty-three 

he  occupied  needs  patience.  There  were  around 
him  men  who  could  not  wait,  men  who  wanted  to 
see  today  the  thing  for  which  they  longed  and 
worked ;  but  Lincoln  knew  that  it  took  time  to  ac 
complish  great  things.  He  had  patience,  the  pa 
tience  that  the  parent  has  who  watches  the  growing 
child,  knowing  that  no  anxiety  or  solicitude  can 
hasten  that  child's  development;  the  patience  of  one 
who  plants  a  tree  and  knows  that,  if  it  is  to  be  a 
sturdy  tree,  it  must  take  years  in  its  growth  and 
development. 

Lincoln  had  fidelity.  He  was  faithful.  The 
people  knew  they  could  trust  him,  because  his 
fidelity  stood  out  and  shone  out,  and  embraced  all 
who  came  into  contact  with  him;  and  then  Lincoln 
had  an  understanding  of  the  development  of  gov 
ernments  and  civilization.  In  that  immortal  ut 
terance  at  Gettysburg  he  spoke  of  the  unfinished 
work  to  which  those  present  should  consecrate 
themselves.  He  knew  that  every  generation  leaves 
an  unfinished  work,  that  every  generation  finds  the 
work  incomplete  when  it  comes,  and,  labor  as  it 
will,  leaves  it  still  unfinished  when  it  departs. 

I  might  have  justified  my  description  of  the  art 
of  government  by  reference  to  these  qualities  that 


Page  forty-four 

Lincoln  possessed,  but  my  purpose  was  a  different 
one.  I  desired,  rather,  briefly  to  trace  the  growth 
and  development  of  this  royal  art.  When  Solomon 
found  the  responsibilities  of  government  resting 
upon  him,  he  gave  utterance  to  that  prayer  that 
has  come  down  through  the  ages,  "  Give  me  wisdom 
that  I  may  govern  my  people  aright. "  My  friends, 
there  have  been  changes  since  then,  and  the  prayer 
today  would  be  a  little  different  from  the  prayer  in 
Solomon's  day;  for,  with  the  growth  of  intelligence, 
with  the  rise  of  the  spirit  of  democracy,  the  defini 
tion  of  leadership  has  undergone  a  change. 

The  aristocratic  definition  of  leadership  is  that 
the  leader  thinks  for  the  people.  The  democratic 
definition  of  leadership  is  that  the  leader  thinks 
with  the  people,  and  Lincoln  illustrated  the  new 
definition  of  leadership.  As  the  representative  of 
the  people,  he  acted  for  them,  doing,  as  their  repre 
sentative,  what  they  would  have  him  to  do;  but 
Lincoln's  hold  upon  the  people  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  he  never  assumed  to  think  for  them.  He  was 
content  to  think  with  them  on  the  questions  that 
affected  the  government  and  their  welfare. 

In  college  I  learned  that  there  were  three  kinds 
of  government,  the  monarchy,  the  aristocracy  and 


Page  forty-five 

the  democracy.  I  learned  that  the  monarchy  was 
the  strongest,  the  aristocracy  the  wisest,  and  the 
democracy  the  most  just.  I  have  had  some  time 
to  think  upon  this  subject  since  I  received  my 
diploma  but  I  still  adhere  to  a  part  of  that.  I 
believe  that  the  democracy  is  the  most  just  but  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  aristocracy  is  the  wisest  or 
that  the  monarchy  is  the  strongest.  A  govern 
ment  that  draws  upon  the  wisdom  of  all  the  people 
is  wiser  than  the  government  that  rests  upon  the 
wisdom  of  a  few  of  the  people,  and  a  monarchy, 
while  it  may  act  more  quickly  upon  a  given  point  or 
subject,  is  not  the  strongest.  I  prefer  to  believe 
with  the  great  historian  Bancroft  that  the  republic 
is  in  truth  the  strongest  of  governments  because, 
disregarding  the  implements  of  terror,  it  dares  to 
build  its  citadel  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  heart 
after  all  is  the  most  secure  foundation  upon  which 
a  nation's  strength  can  be  built.  Pericles,  in  his 
great  funeral  oration,  described  the  greatness  of  his 
country  and  then  he  said :  "  It  was  for  these,  then, 
rather  than  to  have  that  taken  from  them,  to  die 
fighting  in  its  behalf,  and  that  their  survivors  may 
well  be  willing  to  suffer  for  our  country. " 


Page  forty-six 

When  a  government  is  just  and  the  people  love 
it,  they  will  die  that  its  blessings  may  be  transmit 
ted  to  their  children  and  their  children's  children. 
This  idea  of  government,  this  democratic  idea  of 
government,  is  the  growing  idea. 

My  friends,  if  anyone  has  ever  doubted  that  the 
ideas  of  government  which  characterize  our  country 
are  the  growing  ideas,  let  him  but  examine  recent 
history.  Within  five  years  China,  the  sleeping 
giant  of  the  Orient,  has  sent  envoys  throughout 
the  world  to  secure  information  for  the  formation  of 
a  constitution. 

Within  five  years  Russia,  the  synonym  for  des 
potism,  has  been  compelled  to  recognize  the  right 
of  the  people  to  a  voice  in  their  government,  and 
you  have  seen  a  douma  established  there.  It  is 
not  what  we  would  like  or  what  we  would  have  in 
this  country,  but  it  is  a  long  step  in  advance;  and, 
my  friends,  no  one  can  watch  the  struggles  through 
which  those  people  have  passed,  without  believing 
that  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  they  are 
going  to  have  constitutional  government  and  free 
dom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  the  press  and  free 
dom  of  conscience  and  universal  education;  and 
when  this  time  comes,  as  come  it  will,  Russia  will 


Page  forty-seven 

take  her  place  among  the  great  nations  of  the 
world ;  for  people  who  are  willing  to  die  for  lib 
erty  as  her  people  have  died,  have  in  them  the 
material  of  which  great  nations  are  made. 

You  may  go  through  the  nations  of  the  world, 
and  you  will  find  that  in  every  one  there  are  issues 
upon  which  depend  the  further  progress  of  demo 
cratic  institutions. 

Go  into  France,  the  democracy  represented  by 
our  distinguished  guest  tonight,  and  you  will  find 
that  while  in  their  suffrage  they  have  already 
reached  their  limit,  while  their  government  is  al 
ready  responsive  to  the  will  of  the  people,  they  are 
practically  working  out  their  problems.  They  are 
increasing  the  intelligence  of  their  people,  adding 
to  the  number  of  schools,  increasing  the  attendance 
at  the  schools,  and  what  is  also  important  they  are 
seeking  to  increase  the  number  of  home  owners  and 
are  doing  it,  believing  that  when  a  man  owns  his 
home  he  is  a  better  citizen  than  if  he  is  merely  a 
tenant  and  can  be  thrown  out  at  will  by  someone 
else. 

In  Great  Britain,  where  they  have  already  solved 
so  many  problems,  and  where,  in  spite  of  their 
monarchial  form,  they  recognize  so  large  a  power 


Page  forty-eight 

in  the  people  to  direct  their  government,  there  is  a 
growing  sentiment  against  the  exercise  by  the 
House  of  Lords  of  any  power  to  thwart,  finally,  the 
will  of  the  people  expressed  at  the  polls. 

And  so  you  can  take  up  every  nation,  and  you 
will  find  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  democracy 
spreading.  You  will  find,  everywhere,  govern 
ments  becoming  more  popular.  You  will  find, 
everywhere,  the  people  getting  a  larger  control  of 
their  own  government ;  and,  if  it  would  not  take  me 
into  partisan  politics,  I  might  easily  show  that  in 
our  own  country  we  have  no  exception  to  the  rule, 
but  that  back  of  all  parties  in  this  country  there  is 
a  democratic  spirit  that  is  forcing,  step  by  step, 
more  complete  control  of  the  government  by  the 
people  who  live  under  the  government. 

My  friends,  just  one  other  thought  in  the  devel 
opment  of  this  subject.  There  was  a  time  when 
might  meant  right  and  when  physical  strength  was 
the  controlling  factor  in  government.  With  in 
creasing  intelligence,  the  power  of  the  muscle  and 
the  influence  of  the  strong  arm  decreased  and  the 
influence  of  the  brain  increased.  It  was  a  step  in 
advance,  a  great  step  in  advance;  but  the  brain  is 
not  the  largest  element  in  man,  and  following  close 


Page  forty-nine 

upon  the  supremacy  of  the  mind  above  the  arm, 
has  come  the  supremacy  of  the  heart  over  the 
brain. 

Carlyle,  in  his  closing  chapters  on  the  French 
Revolution,  presents  the  relation  of  these  three  fac 
tors.  He  said  that  thought  is  stronger  than  artil 
lery  park,  and  moulds  the  world  like  soft  clay  and 
that  back  of  thought  is  love;  that  there  never  was 
a  great  mind  that  did  not  have  back  of  it  a  generous 
heart. 

And  so,  my  friends,  I  believe  that  we  are  making 
progress  in  the  direction  of  a  larger  heart  control, 
and  that  the  greatness  of  Lincoln,  like  the  greatness 
of  his  prototype,  Jefferson,  was  due  more  to  his 
heart  than  to  his  head.  His  heart  was  large  enough 
to  take  in  all  mankind,  and  he  was  one  of  the  earlier 
apostles  of  the  doctrine  of  human  liberty  that  is 
spreading  throughout  the  world. 

About  fourteen  years  ago  a  great  Frenchman, 
Dumas,  wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  said  that  we 
were  on  the  eve  of  a  new  era,  when  mankind  was  to 
be  seized  with  a  passion  of  love,  and  when  men  were 
to  understand  their  relations  to  each  other.  Two 
years  afterwards  Tolstoi,  in  his  secluded  home  in 

—4  L  C 


Page  fifty 

the  heart  of  Russia,  Tolstoi  who  has  never  been 
outside  of  the  confines  of  his  own  country  for  more 
than  fifty  years,  Tolstoi  clad  in  the  garb  of  the 
peasant,  and  living  the  life  of  the  peasant  and 
preaching  out  to  all  the  world  the  philosophy  that 
rests  upon  the  doctrine,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself ,"  Tolstoi  read  the  letter  of  Dumas  and 
gave  it  his  endorsement. 

We  see  signs  of  it  in  this  country  and  everywhere, 
and  with  that  great  doctrine  of  liberty  we  shall  find 
the  nations  knit  more  closely  together.  We  shall 
find  our  own  people  working  more  harmoniously 
together,  and  we  shall  find  people  asking,  not 
"What  can  we  do?"  but  "What  ought  we  to  do?" 
and  giving  to  ethics  a  paramount  place  in  the  cal 
culations  of  individuals  and  nations. 

My  friends,  Lincoln  was  a  representative  of  the 
latest  development  of  the  art  of  government,  for 
Lincoln  rested  his  hope  and  built  his  faith  upon  the 
hearts  of  men. 

I  am  glad  that  we  live  in  this  latter  day  when 
the  might  of  the  brute  is  disappearing,  when  the 
cunning  of  the  brain  is  no  longer  commanding  the 
highest  praise,  when  the  characteristics  of  the 


Page  fifty-one 

heart  are  demanding  a  consideration  that  they  have 
never  demanded  before;  and  on  this  occasion,  when 
we  meet  to  speak  the  name  of  Lincoln,  it  is  a  fitting 
time  to  raise  our  hearts  in  gratitude,  that  he  was 
one  of  the  first  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  those 
artists  in  the  "Royal  Art  of  Government7'  to 
recognize  the  heart's  place  in  shaping  the  destiny 
of  man  and  the  history  of  a  nation. 


Page  fifty-two 


JUDGE  HUMPHREY 

Introducing  Senator  Dolliver 

A  score  of  years  ago  a  new  star  appeared  in  the 
firmament  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  people  of 
Iowa  saw  this  man  adorning  the  public  forum  and 
the  sanctuaries  of  justice  and  they  bade  him  go  and 
grace  somewhat  the  rougher  walks  of  political  life. 
They  found  him  worthy  to  be  the  colleague  of  the 
late  Senator  Allison.  Since  that  time  his  star  has 
been  ever  in  the  ascendant  and  the  nation  recog 
nizes  the  added  strength  and  wisdom  which  he 
brings  to  that  great  deliberative  body,  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  Always  a  welcome  visitor  to 
Illinois,  where  his  voice  on  other  occasions  has  been 
frequently  heard,  we  give  him  special  welcome  to 
night  as  one  worthy  to  voice  an  estimate  of  the 
greatest  American  the  country  has  ever  produced. 

I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  the  distinguished 
orator  and  statesman,  the  Honorable,  aye,  •  the 
Honorable  Jonathan  P.  Dolliver,  senator  from 
Iowa. 


Page  fifty-ChM 


SENATOR  DOLLIVER 

Our  Heroic  Age 

I  find  a  very  great  pleasure  in  sitting  down 
with  you  at  these  tables,  spread  with  the  lux 
uries  and  the  necessities  of  life.  I  thank  my 
friend,  the  toastmaster,  for  the  very  kind  ex 
pression  with  which  he  has  introduced  me,  al 
though  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  have  a  distinct 
impression  that,  without  intending  it,  he  has  given 
me  an  advertisement  that  is  likely  to  do  me  more 
harm  than  good,  for  I  make  no  pretense  whatever 
either  as  an  orator  or  as  a  statesman.  I  am  a  plain 
country  politician,  of  a  kind  very  numerous  here  in 
Illinois,  although  I  think  I  agree  with  you  in  believ 
ing  that  there  is  mighty  little  difference  between  a 
politician  and  a  statesman. 

I  have  had  a  little  trouble  to  find  out  what  I  am 
expected  to  speak  about  in  order  to  beguile  the 
midnight  dispositions  of  the  patriots  who  remain 
around  these  banquet  tables.  While  I  have  had  a 
little  difficulty  to  find  out  what  I  am  expected  to 


Page  fifty-four 

talk  about,  I  have  had  several  intimations  that 
there  are  some  subjects  that  might  be  irritating  if  I 
introduced  them  on  an  occasion  like  this.  It  has  been 
delicately  suggested  to  me  that  the  campaign  in 
Illinois,  (I  do  not  mean  the  primary  campaign,  but 
the  ordinary  political  campaign)  is  over,  and  that 
these  tables  are  dedicated  to  an  atmosphere  of  pure 
patriotism  without  any  partisan  bias;  and  I  am 
mighty  glad  of  it,  because  I  have  lived  in  the  atmo 
sphere  of  party  politics  so  long,  I  have  been  com 
pelled  to  talk  politics  so  much  myself,  and  what  is 
even  worse  I  have  been  compelled  to  listen  to  so 
many  other  people  talking,  that  I  have  reached, 
so  far  as  those  matters  are  concerned,  a  point  of 
saturation,  resembling  somewhat  the  case  of  the 
young  lady  who  had  spent  the  summer  at  Narra- 
gansett  Pier.  She  said  that  she  had  eaten  so  many 
clams  that  she  rose  and  fell  with  the  tide. 

It  is  not  that  I  have  anything  against  it,  but 
simply  that,  like  everybody  else,  I  have  had  enough 
of  it  for  the  time  being. 

I  have  listened  with  an  unalloyed  pleasure  to  the 
magnificent  speeches  with  which  this  banquet  has 
been  made  famous  and  memorable  in  Illinois  and, 
I  believe,  throughout  the  United  States.  I  was 


Page  fifty-five 

especially  interested  in  the  profound  observations 
of  the  philosophy  of  government  and  of  life  which 
have  been  given  to  us  by  the  distinguished  states 
man  and  orator  who  has  just  taken  his  seat,  and  I 
was  glad  to  hear  him.  I  regard  him  as  an  institu 
tion  in  the  United  States.  He  has  chosen  the  bet 
ter  part,  and  has  given  over  his  life  to  meditation 
upon  the  administration  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  and  no  man,  in  my  judgment,  has 
rendered  a  larger  or  a  better  service  in  the  forma 
tion  of  a  public  opinion  in  the  interest  of  our  in 
stitutions  than  our  distinguished  orator  and  friend 
and  guest. 

There  are  two  little  groups  of  people  whose  com 
ing  into  this  chamber  have  touched  my  heart.  One 
of  them  sits  yonder  in  the  balcony,  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution.  There  is  one  thing 
about  them  that  the  public  ought  to  understand. 
We  are  here  in  our  little  way  trying  to  preserve 
and  helping  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln;  but  Abraham  Lincoln  needs  none  of  our 
help  to  make  his  memory  immortal  in  the  ages  of 
the  world.  These  young  women  are  doing  a  finer 
thing,  even,  than  that.  They  are  perpetuating  the 
unknown  heroism,  the  unrecorded  service,  of  the 


Page  fifty-six 

men  who,  in  the  foundation  of  our  institutions  gave 
their  lives,  with  willing  hearts,  to  the  defense  of 
public  liberty.  They  do  not  ask,  even,  that  a  man 
should  be  regarded  as  a  hero.  If  only  he  was  wil 
ling  for  the  sacrifice,  it  is  their  business  to  hand  his 
name,  however  lowly,  to  other  generations. 

And  yonder  in  the  gallery  sits  a  little  group  of 
veterans  who,  after  all,  made  the  services  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  possible  in  the  dark  days  of  the  civil 
war. 

We  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  English 
Ambassador  that  a  great  name,  a  great  man,  is  the 
chief  possession  of  a  people;  but  there  can  be  no 
great  name,  no  great  man,  unless  there  is  behind 
him  a  great  cause  and  a  great  people. 

Abraham  Lincoln  illustrates  the  life  of  sixty 
years  ago.  We  do  well  to  hang  up  his  picture.  I 
have  seen  it  in  every  city  that  I  have  passed 
through,  in  Washington  in  every  window,  in  Pitts 
burgh  in  every  window,  in  Cincinnati  and  here  at 
the  old  homestead  in  Springfield.  We  do  well  to 
teach  our  children  what  the  life  means,  and  to  let 
that  kindly  benignant  face  shine  from  our  walls, 


Page  fifly-teven 

that  the  young  people  of  the  United  States,  coming 
to  responsibility,  may  be  educated  in  all  the  alle 
giance  of  patriotism  and  of  liberty. 

We  have,  in  the  United  States,  within  the  life 
time  of  many  who  sit  around  these  tables,  a  national 
experience  which  elevated  the  republic  to  a  level 
never  before  known  in  the  history  of  our  institu 
tions.  There  had  been  a  dark  period  behind  it 
when  nobody  knew  whether  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  going  to  last  another  ten  years 
or  not. 

It  is  a  curious  thing  that  this  government  was 
eighty  years  old  before  it  produced  a  statesman 
who  could  stand  up,  at  the  dinner  table  or  anywhere 
else,  and  tell  his  countrymen  that  the  institutions 
of  America  would  last  out  their  lifetime.  Even 
our  greatest  statesmen  were  in  the  dark.  Daniel 
Webster  said,  in  his  greatest  speech,  "God  grant 
that  upon  my  vision  that  curtain  may  not  rise." 
"Finally,"  said  Henry  Clay, "  I  implore,  as  the  best 
blessing  that  Heaven  can  bestow  upon  me  on  earth, 
that  if  the  direful  and  sad  event  of  the  dissolution 
of  the  nation  shall  happen,  I  may  not  be  spared  to 
behold  the  heart-rending  spectacle. " 


Page  fifty-tight 

These  men,  great  as  they  were,  in  their  day  and 
time  did  not  dare  to  trust  themselves  to  look  into 
the  future.  It  remained  for  a  later  and,  in  my 
judgment,  a  better  generation  to  view  without 
despair  the  chaos  of  civil  strife,  to  walk  into  it,  to 
fight  the  way  of  the  nation  through  it,  to  lift  up  a 
spotless  flag  above  it  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  flame 
and  the  smoke  of  battle,  to  create  the  nation  of 
America.  That  was  our  heroic  age,  and  out  of  it 
came  forth  our  ideal  heroes,  Lincoln  and  the  states 
men  who  stood  by  his  side;  Grant  and  the  great 
soldiers  who  obeyed  his  orders;  and  behind  them 
both  the  countless  hosts  of  that  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  through  whose  illustrious  sacrifice  of 
blood  our  weary  and  heavy-laden  centuries  have 
been  redeemed. 

You  have  built  here  a  monument,  strong  and 
beautiful,  which  is  to  bear  the  name  and  perpetuate 
the  service  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  We  are  about  to 
build,  at  our  capital  yonder  at  Washington,  a  na 
tional  monument  that  will  in  some  dim  kind  of  way 
illustrate  our  opinion  of  the  service  of  this  man; 
and  when  we  get  it  built  we  will  not  put  upon  it 
any  image  of  his  person.  It  will  not  need  any  such 
memorial  for  it  will  be,  as  Victor  Hugo  said  of  the 


Page  fifty-nine 

column  of  Waterloo  to  be  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — it  will  bear  up  not  the 
figure  of  a  man,  for  it  will  be  the  statue  of  a  people, 
the  memorial  of  a  great  nation. 

And  so  his  centennial  has  put  into  the  hearts  and 
into  the  minds  of  unnumbered  millions  this  fame 
which  has  grown  in  this  half  century  until  it  has 
become  the  chiefest  possession  of  the  American 
people,  and  the  most  precious  heritage  that  will 
be  passed  on  to  the  generations  that  are  to  come. 


Page  tixty 


SENATOR  CULLOM 

A   Letter  of  Regret 

United  States  Senate, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Feb.  6, 1909. 
Hon.  J  Otis  Humphrey,  President  Lincoln  Centen 
nial  Association,  Springfield,  III.: 
MY  DEAR  JUDGE — It  is  a  matter  of  sincere  regret 
to  me  that  I  am  unable  to  be  present  at  your  great 
anniversary  celebration  of  the  birth  of  the  immortal 
Lincoln  and  to  welcome  to  my  home  city  the  am 
bassadors  of  Great  Britain  and  France  and  the 
distinguished  guests  who  are  to  be  with  you. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  greatest  of  Americans,  great 
est  of  men,  emancipator,  martyr,  his  service  to  his 
country  has  not  been  equaled  by  any  American 
citizen,  not  even  by  Washington.  His  name  and 
life  have  been  an  inspiration  to  me  from  my  earliest 
recollection. 

On  this  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  his  birth 
the  people,  without  regard  to  creed,  color,  condition 
or  section,  in  all  parts  of  this  union  which  he  saved, 


Page  sixty-one 

are  striving  to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  No  Amer 
ican  has  ever  before  received  such  deserved  uni 
versal  praise.  Not  only  in  his  own  country,  but 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  Abraham  Lincoln 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  few,  the  very  few,  truly 
great  men  in  history.  His  memory  is  as  fresh 
today  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people  as  it 
was  forty  years  ago,  and  the  passing  years  only  add 
to  his  fame  and  serve  to  give  us  a  truer  conception 
of  his  noble  character.  The  events  of  his  life,  his 
words  of  wisdom,  have  been  gathered  together  in 
countless  volumes,  to  be  treasured  up  and  handed 
down  to  generations  yet  to  come. 

I  knew  him  intimately  in  Springfield;  I  heard  him 
utter  his  simple  farewell  to  his  friends  and  neigh 
bors  when  he  departed  to  assume  a  task  greater 
than  any  President  had  been  called  upon  to  assume 
in  our  history;  it  was  my  sad  duty  to  accompany 
his  mortal  remains  from  the  capital  of  the  nation 
to  the  capital  of  Illinois,  and  as  I  gazed  upon  his 
face  the  last  time,  I  thanked  God  that  it  had  been 
my  privilege  to  know  him  as  a  friend,  and  I  felt 
then,  as  I  more  fully  realize  now,  that  the  good  he 
had  done  would  live  through  all  the  ages  to  bless 
the  world. 


Page  sixty-two 

Springfield,  his  only  real  home,  the  scene  of  his 
great  political  triumphs,  was  his  fitting  resting 
place.  In  the  midst  of  this  great  continent  his 
dust  shall  rest  a  sacred  treasure  to  myriads  who 
shall  pilgrim  to  his  shrine  to  kindle  anew  their  zeal 
and  patriotism. 

Again  expressing  regret  that  I  cannot  be  with 
you  to  take  part  in  honoring  the  memory  of  our 
greatest  President  on  the  one  hundredth  anniver 
sary  of  his  birth,  and  feeling  sure  that  the  Spring 
field  celebration  will  be  the  most  notable  of  all,  as 
it  should  be,  I  remain 

Sincerely  yours, 

S.  M.  CULLOM. 


Page  sixty-three 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

A  Letter  of  Regret 

Tuskegee  Institute,  Alabama, 

February  9,  1909. 
Mr.  James  R.  B.  Van  Cleave,  Secretary  Publicity 

Committee,      Lincoln     Centennial     Association 

Springfield,  III.: 

MY  DEAR  SIR — It  is  a  matter  of  keen  regret  to  me 
that,  owing  to  a  long  standing  promise  to  speak  in 
New  York  on  the  occasion  of  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  I 
find  myself  unable  to  accept  your  generous  invita 
tion  to  speak  in  his  home  city  on  that  day.  There 
is  no  spot  in  America  where  it  would  have  given 
me  greater  satisfaction  to  have  spoken  my  word 
than  in  Springfield — the  city  that  he  loved  and  the 
city  where  his  body  rests. 

There  are  many  lessons  which  can  and  will  be 
drawn  from  the  life  of  our  great  hero,  but  there  is 
one  above  all  others  at  this  moment  that  I  deem 


Page  sixty-four 

fitting  to  call  attention  to  on  this  occasion.  Among 
other  reasons,  I  do  so  because  of  recent  occurrences 
in  the  city  of  Lincoln's  adoption. 

When  Lincoln  freed  my  race  there  were  four 
millions.  Now  there  are  ten  millions.  Naturally 
more  and  more  this  increase  means  that  they  will 
scatter  themselves  through  the  country,  north  as 
well  as  south.  A  large  element  already  is  in  the 
north.  If  my  race  would  honor  the  memory  of 
Lincoln  and  exhibit  their  gratitude  for  what  he  did, 
it  can  do  so  in  no  more  fitting  manner  than  by  put 
ting  into  daily  practice  the  lessons  of  his  own  life. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  simple,  humble  man,  yet  a  great 
man.  Great  men  are  always  simple.  No  matter 
where  members  of  my  race  reside,  we  should  resolve 
from  this  day  forward  that  we  will  lead  sober,  in 
dustrious,  frugal,  moral  lives,  and  that  while  being 
ambitious  we  shall  at  the  same  time  be  patient 
law-abiding  and  self-controlled  as  Lincoln  was. 
These  are  the  elements  that  will  win  success  and 
respect,  no  matter  where  we  live.  Every  member 
of  my  race  who  does  not  work,  who  leads  an  im 
moral  life,  dishonors  the  memory  and  the  name  of 


Page  sixty-five 

Lincoln.  Every  one,  on  the  other  hand,  who  leads 
a  law-abiding,  sober  life  is  justifying  the  faith  which 
the  sainted  Lincoln  placed  in  us. 

In  every  part  of  this  country  I  want  to  see  my 
race  live  such  high  and  useful  lives  that  they  will 
not  be  merely  tolerated,  but  that  they  shall  actu 
ally  be  needed  and  wanted  because  of  their  use 
fulness  in  the  community.  The  loafer,  the  man 
who  tries  to  live  by  his  wits,  is  never  wanted  any 
where. 

Many  white  people  in  the  north  who  are  now 
honoring  the  memory  of  Lincoln  are  coming  into 
contact  with  the  race  Lincoln  freed  for  the  first 
time.  I  have  spoken  of  the  patience  and  self  con 
trol  needed  on  the  part  of  my  race.  With  equal 
emphasis  I  wish  to  add  that  no  man  who  hallows 
the  name  of  Lincoln  will  inflict  injustice  upon  the 
negro  because  he  is  a  negro  or  because  he  is  weak. 
Every  act  of  injustice,  of  law-breaking,  growing  out 
of  the  presence  of  the  negro,  seeks  to  pull  down  the 
great  temple  of  justice  and  law  and  order  which  he 
gave  his  life  to  make  secure.  Lawlessness  that 
begins  when  a  weak  race  is  the  victim  grows  by 
what  it  feeds  upon  and  spreads  until  it  includes  all 

— 5  L  C 


Page  sixty-six 

races.  It  is  easy  for  a  strong  man  or  a  strong  race 
to  kick  down  a  weak  man  or  a  weak  race.  It  is 
ignoble  to  kick  down;  it  is  noble  to  lift  up  as  Lincoln 
sought  to  do  all  through  his  life.  Just  in  the  degree 
that  both  races,  while  we  are  passing  through  this 
crucial  period,  exhibit  the  high  qualities  of  self- 
control  and  liberality  which  Lincoln  exhibited  in 
his  own  life,  will  we  show  that  in  reality  we  love  and 
honor  his  name,  and  both  races  will  be  lifted  into 
a  high  atmosphere  of  service  to  each  other. 
Yours  truly, 

BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 


Page  sixty-seven 


CHARLES  HENRY  BUTLER 

Our  Leader ;  a  Poem 

Fair  stretched  the  land,  East,  West,  from  sea  to  sea; 

North,  South  from  Lakes  to  Gulf;  we  called  it  free. 

And,  proudly  in  our  ballads,  oft  had  sung 

Of  how  our  freedom  we  had  bravely  wrung 

From  tyrant  King;  fair  were  its  prospects  too 

And  bright;  nor  could  the  wealth  the  Indies  knew, 

Even  when  fabled  Kublai  Khan  was  there, 

Nor  yet  Pactolus'  golden  tide,  compare 

With  boundless  stream  that,  ever  constant,  poured 

Into  the  lap  of  industry  its  hoard 

Of  treasure;  as  though  forest,  mine  and  field 

Each  with  the  other  vied  the  greatest  wealth  to  yield. 

God-fearing  too,  the  people  of  this  land 
Their  churches  grandly  reared  on  every  hand 
And  worshipped  Him  who  taught  us  when  we  pray, 
"Thy  Kingdom  come  upon  this  earth,"  to  say. 

To  its  fair  shores  there  came,  across  the  sea, 

The  weary  peasant,  yearning  to  be  free 

From  serfdom's  toil;  and  there  he  sought,  and  found, 

The  right  to  till,  and  call  his  own,  the  ground 

And  fruit  it  yielded  to  his  care.     There  came, 

Beside,  the  patriot  burning  with  the  shame 


Page  sixty-eight 

Of  thought,  in  his  own  land  not  merit  told 
But  only  rank,  and  noble  birth,  and  gold; 
While  in  the  young  republic  of  the  West, 
He  hoped,  and  found,  true  merit  was  the  test. 

Surely  than  this  no  land  more  blessed  could  be, 
Surely  in  land  like  this  all  must  be  free ! 
Not  so;  in  market  place  men  bought  and  sold 
Their  fellow-men,  and  bartered  souls  for  gold; 
It  matters  not  how  blessed,  how  good,  how  fair 
Be  land  or  people,  if  the  curse  is  there 
Of  slavery,  it  will  cast  its  blight 
O'er  all  that  elsewhere  would  be  bright. 

Not  over  all  the  land  this  curse  had  spread, 

Not  yet  throughout  the  land  was  conscience  dead; 

But  still  to  blame  is  every  one  who  tries 

Not  to  strike  evil  dead,  but  compromise 

With  it;  so,  not  upon  a  few,  but  all, 

The  blame  and  burden  of  that  curse  must  fall. 

Too  late  'tis  now  to  try  to  cast  the  blame 

On  either  side;  no  longer  fan  that  flame 

Or  further  fuel  feed;  but  let  it  die, 

And  with  it  all  the  animosity 

That  once  so  hotly  burned.     Is  not  this  true — 

One  did  but  what  the  other  let  it  do ; 

Till,  past  all  bounds,  the  evil  grew  so  much 

It  held  the  country  in  its  death-like  clutch? 

How  loose  that  clutch?    How  could  the  tide  be  stemmed, 
By  which,  not  stemmed,  the  land  were  overwhelmed? 
Ah!  many  men  were  brave  to  death,  and  tried 
To  loose  those  bonds  and  check  that  rising  tide. 


Page  sixty-nine 


Honor  to  all  our  brave  we  gladly  pay, 

But  more  than  all  to  him,  who  on  this  day 

Was  born  a  century  ago,  and  who, 

As  leader  unsurpassed,  his  people  through 

The  darksome  valley  of  the  shades  of  death 

Led  back  to  light  and  life;  and  then,  himself, 

Fell  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  he  had  reared 

To  Freedom's  God,  dead — but  his  name  revered, 

And  loved  forever,  as  the  most  sublime 

Of  patriot  martyrs  on  the  roll  of  time. 

Dark  were  the  clouds  that  o'er  the  country  hung, 
Wild  were  the  threats  that  'cross  the  line  were  flung, 
Men  trembled,  women  wept,  all  were  dismayed; 
And  Peace,  in  our  time,  oh,  Lord,  some  prayed, 
Hoping,  in  compromise,  to  find  a  way 
To  limit,  not  to  end,  the  plague;  to  stay 
Its  further  progress;  as  though  slaves  could  be 
In  part  of  land,  while  elsewhere  all  were  free. 

Oh,  for  a  leader!  others  prayed.    God  heard 

And  answered;  from  the  West  a  voice  that  stirred 

The  hearts  of  all  was  heard  throughout  the  length 

And  breadth  of  this  whole  land.     Its  tones  of  strength 

Proclaimed  the  voice  of  leader  when  he  bade 

Them  heed  these  words  that  could  not  be  gainsaid : 

Not  half  for  slave,  and  other  half  for  free, 

Can  this,  nor  yet  another,  country  be; 

No  house  divided  'gainst  itself  can  stand, 

And  what  is  true  of  house  is  true  of  land. 

In  withering  tones  he  spoke  of  slaving  toil 

That  tilled,  while  others  ate,  the  fruit  of  soil; 

Not  by  the  sweat  of  other's  brow  shalt  earn  thy  bread 


Page  seventy 

But  by  thine  own,  the  Holy  Writ  hath  said. 

Truth!    And  the  people — sick  of  lies — replied 

"Our  Leader!" — and  he  led  them  till  he  died. 

And  still  he  leads  us,  for  the  truth  ne'er  dies, 

"Our  Leader  still!"    Each  honest  heart  replies. 

Behold  his  portrait,  gaze  upon  his  face, 

Seek  not  therein  to  find  soft  shades  of  grace; 

In  rugged  lines  which  in  that  face  appear 

Sorrow  there  is  and  care,  but  not  one  trace  of  fear; 

And  back  of  all — and  in  that  eye,  indeed — 

What  wealth  and  depth  of  character  we  read ! 

Look  where  we  will,  not  elsewhere  shall  we  find 

Such  courage,  strength  and  truth  with  tenderness  combined. 

His  was  the  vision  that  so  plainly  saw 

Not  only  what  all  others  saw — the  flaw — 

But  also  that  the  flaw  would  surely  spread 

Until  the  whole  fabric  would  be  dead, 

Unless  the  fearful,  ugly  thing  were  cut; 

— Nor  cared  how  deep  in  flesh  the  knife  were  put, 

Tho'  even  close  to  heart  of  that  which  he  most  loved, 

If  but  the  wicked  spot  could  be  removed — 

But  oh,  to  him  how  deep  the  pain,  that  he 

The  one  to  wield  that  almost  fatal  knife  must  be. 

His  was  the  genius  that  knew  how  to  act 
And  when — yet  so  combined  with  skill  and  tact, 
And  nameless  charm  of  humor  he  was  known 
To  use  so  well  in  manner  all  his  own — 
That  through  a  crisis,  such  as  ne'er  before 
Had  ever  threatened  State  in  peace  or  war, 
He  guided  it,  and  shaped  its  course  so  well, 
That  it  was  saved  at  last;  and,  when  he  fell 


Page  seventy-one 


Pierced  by  a  bullet  from  assassin  hand, 
Not  one  part  only,  but  the  whole  wide  land, 
Cursed  the  foul  deed,  and  grieved  that  it  had  lost 
Him  who  to  heal  its  wounds  had  done  the  most; 
His  was  the  patience,  that  with  faith  combined, 
Enabled  him  in  darkest  hour  to  find 
Hope  for  the  future,  and  that  all  would  see 
At  last  the  country — reunited — free. 

His  faith  was  that  which  bade  him  call  upon 
The  Being  most  Divine — the  God  of  Washington. 
He  knew  with  that  aid  he  would  not  fail 
And  that  without  it  he  could  not  prevail. 

Yes,  when  nearly  all  was  nearly  o'er, 

And  looking  back  on  four  long  years  of  war, 

Could  calmly  say,  with  charity  toward  all 

And  malice  none,  in  words  we  all  recall; 

That  still  the  everlasting  judgments  of  the  Lord 

Through  all  the  long  resounding  ages  of  the  world, 

Whether  three  thousand  years  ago,  or  whether 

Rendered  today,  are  true  and  righteous  altogether. 

He  came  to  earth  and  here  his  task  fulfilled; 

He  nobly  did  the  work  his  Master  willed 

Him  here  to  do;  and  when  he  died  'twas  known 

Earth's  noblest  spirit  back  to  Heaven  had  flown. 

Though  storied  urn,  nor  animated  bust 

The  fleeting  breath  has  ne'er  recalled;  though  dust, 

When  silent,  honor's  voice  cannot  provoke, 

Nor  yet  can  soothing  flattery  invoke 

The  dull,  cold  ear  of  death;  still  can  we  not 

Erect  some  monument  upon  some  spot 


Page  seventy-two 

That  ever  in  the  hearts  of  all,  Our  Leader  great 

Will  honor,  and  his  fame  perpetuate; 

Once  on  a  field  that  red  with  patriot  blood 

A  year  before  that  time  had  run,  he  stood 

And  uttered  to  the  throng  assembled  there 

Those  words,  with  which  no  other  words  compare 

Not  uttered  by  a  voice  divine.     He  said, 

While  dedicating  to  the  noble  dead 

The  spot  whereon  they  died:    "It  is  too  late 

For  us  to  hallow,  or  to  consecrate 

This  field ;  that  has  been  done ;  it  is  for  us — 

The  living — to  be  dedicated  here,  and  thus 

To  make  the  high  resolve  that  those  who  gave 

Devotion's  fullest  measure  here  to  save 

The  Nation's  life  shall  not  in  vain  have  died." 

Cannot  that  thought  to  him  be  now  applied? 

If  to  Our  Leader  we  would  now  erect 

A  fitting  monument,  let  each  select 

In  his  own  heart,  some  high  resolve  to  make, 

And  then  fulfill  it  for  that  leader's  sake; 

And,  if  in  such  a  monument,  each  one 

Of  us,  today,  would  set  a  single  stone, 

'Twould  higher  be,  more  stately  and  more  grand 

Than  any  ever  built  in  any  land 

To  any  hero;  it  would  nobly  rise 

Until  its  lofty  apex  reached  the  skies, 

And  to  Our  Leader  would  the  message  bring, 

That  while  within  our  hearts  his  words  still  ring, 

This  Nation  under  God  shall  have  new  birth 

Of  freedom;  nor  shall  perish  from  the  earth 

This  Government  that  of  the  people,  by 

And  for  the  people  is;  Thus  let  us  try 


Page  seventy-three 


To  prove — nor  count  the  cost  of  time  or  pain — 
The  noblest  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain. 
Ask  ye  what  that  resolve  shall  be?     Look  right 
Or  left,  for  all  the  fields  are  harvest  white. 

Are  there  no  slaves  to  be  set  free  today? 
No  great  remaining  tasks  to  which  we  may 
Now  dedicate  ourselves?  may  we  not  help  to  free 
This  country  from  those  forms  of  slavery 
That  know  no  color  line — the  greed  of  wealth 
And  lust  for  power — aggrandizement  of  self — 
That  hold  in  thraldom  many  of  our  best 
And  steep  in  envy  nearly  all  the  rest? 

Fairer  and  brighter  is  this  land  today 
Than  it  has  ever  been  before;  and  may 
It  ever  fairer,  better,  brighter  grow. 
Surely  no  land  more  blest  than  this,  below 
Heaven's  high  dome  can  ever  be.     And  so 
As  would  Our  Leader  let  us  bravely  strike 
These  shackles  off;  and  strike  them  not  alone 
From  others'  limbs;  but  strike  them  from  our  own. 

Are  there  no  other  slaves  who  sorely  need 

Some  one  to  loose  their  bonds?    There  are,  indeed. 

Do  ye  not  hear  the  children's  bitter  cry 

As  in  the  mills  and  mines  their  tasks  they  ply? 

They,  who  should  cheer  the  household  through  the  day 

Are  taught  to  work  before  they  learn  to  play. 

Shame  on  the  land  of  which  it  may  be  said 

That  parents  eat,  while  children  earn,  the  bread. 


Page  seventy-four 

If  he  were  here  would  not  Our  Leader  be 

In  foremost  rank  to  set  the  children  free, 

And  onward  lead  us  in  the  great  crusade 

Of  right  'gainst  wrong  which  ever  should  be  made? 

Then  let  us  make  them  for  Our  Leader's  sake. 

What  nobler  tasks  can  our  devotion  claim 

Than  these?    Then  let  us  do  them  in  his  name. 


Page  teventy-ftve 


AT  THE  TABERNACLE 

At  2:30  in  the  afternoon  an  audience  of  10,000 
people  were  assembled  at  the  Tabernacle  where 
addresses  were  delivered  by  Messrs.  Jusserand, 
Bryce,  Dolliver  and  Bryan.  Governor  Deneen 
presided  at  the  meeting.  The  addresses  together 
with  the  introductory  remarks  of  the  Governor 
are  given  on  the  following  pages. 


Page  seventy-six 


GOVERNOR  DENEEN 

Introducing  the  French  Ambassador 

We  are  met  to  celebrate  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Throughout  our  own  land  and  in  many  parts  of  the 
world  men  are  gathered  together  at  this  moment 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  his  memory.  Wherever  they 
have  gathered,  their  thoughts  will  turn  to  our 
state  and  this  spot,  which  have  been  glorified  by 
his  life  and  death. 

We  are  exceedingly  fortunate,  in  this  his  home, 
to  have  with  us  today  distinguished  representa 
tives  from  far  European  countries,  and  two  dis 
tinguished  sons  of  our  native  land.  The  Com 
mittee  had  arranged  for  the  ambassadors  from 
France  and  from  Great  Britain  to  speak  at  the 
banquet  tonight  but  our  people  were  so  anxious 
to  have  the  opportunity  to  meet  them  and  hear 
them,  and  to  show  the  high  respect  and  great 
love  which  is  had  here  for  their  countries,  that 
they  have  consented  to  speak  briefly  this  afternoon; 


Page  seventy-seven 

and  it  is  indeed  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have 
the  honor  to  introduce  to  you  a  diplomat,  author 
and  statesman,  His  Excellency,  the  Ambassador 
from  France  to  the  United  States,  the  Honorable 
J.  J.  Jusserand. 


Page  seventy-eight 


THE  FRENCH  AMBASSADOR 

France's  Esteem  For  Lincoln 

YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — 
It  is  not  only  a  great  but  unexpected  honor  to 
address  you  today.  I  am  very  proud  to  be  asked, 
and  very  happy  to  address  the  citizens  of  this 
city  of  Springfield,  where  the  mind  of  the  great 
man  whose  memory  we  delight  to  honor  today, 
took  its  definite  shape. 

It  was  in  Springfield  that  Lincoln  received  his 
first  lessons  in  statesmanship,  with  what  results  all 
the  world  knows.  In  this  city,  which  owes  much 
to  Lincoln,  as  it  owes  to  him  the  honor  of  being 
the  capital  of  this  great  state,  that  the  backwoods 
man  of  years  before  became  the  citizen  who  was 
to  be  the  leader  of  men,  and  who  was  to  be  the 
second  grandest  President  of  the  United  States, 
the  one  who  holds  in  the  heart  of  his  compatriots 
the  same  place  as  George  Washington. 

These  two  great  men  were  related  in  their  life- 
work.  One  created  the  United  States  and  the 


Page  seventy-nine 

other  prevented  their  disruption.  When  Wash 
ington  fought  for  his  great  task,  France  stood 
by  him  as  a  friend.  When  Lincoln  fought,  you 
may  recall  that  if  France  did  not  send  an  army, 
there  was  at  least,  under  the  United  States  flag, 
one  regiment  that  was  French,  that  was  led  by 
French  officers.  That  was  the  55th  New  York, 
which  wore  the  red  trousers  of  the  French  army, 
and  went  to  Washington  singing  the  Marseillaise. 
They  went  to  camp  and  received  the  flag  they 
were  to  carry  through  the  battles  and  through 
the  war,  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  himself.  Lincoln  came, 
himself,  to  present  the  flag  and  he  had  asked  the 
regiment  to  select  their  date.  They  selected  a 
date  that  was  dear  to  them,  and  Lincoln  came, 
and  to  the  song  of  Marseillaise  he  presented  the 
flag.  A  man  who  had  been  a  general  in  the  French 
army  and  who  was  a  French  citizen,  proposed  a 
toast  to  the  nation.  He  drank  to  the  nation  and 
said,  "To  the  Union  to  be  maintained  and  to  be 
re-established,  but  not  so  soon  but  that  the  55th 
may  have  time  to  show  how  much  they  care  for 
it. "  Lincoln  himself  replied,  "  I  drink  to  the  55th 


Page  eighty 

and  to  the  Union,  and  since  the  Union  cannot, 
apparently,  be  re-established  until  the  55th  has 
had  its  battle,  I  drink  a  speedy  battle  to  the  55th. " 

That  flag  was  carried  through  the  war  and  ended 
gloriously  with  the  regiment,  itself,  in  that  awful 
day  at  Fredericksburg.  At  Fredericksburg  only 
the  stem  was  left.  When  the  battle  was  over 
the  regiment  was  reduced  to  two  hundred  and  ten 
men.  It  was  melted  into  the  very  sod,  itself! 
That  was  the  end  of  the  regiment,  not  of  the  war. 
What  the  end  of  the  war  was  you  know.  Lincoln 
too,  met  his  fate,  the  fate  of  a  hero  such  as  he; 
and  now  his  glory  fills  the  world,  and  everywhere 
there  is  only  one  feeling  for  him. 

In  France  that  feeling  was  peculiarly  keen  and 
great  because,  in  those  days,  all  the  liberal  French 
men  were  anxious  about  what  took  place  in  Amer 
ica.  They  all  felt  that  if  the  American  Republic 
split  into  two,  we  had  very  little  chance,  in  France, 
ever  to  have  a  republic,  ourselves.  So  we  followed 
with  beating  hearts  what  happened  to  Lincoln 
and  prayed  with  all  our  earnestness  of  soul  for 
the  re-establishment  of  that  Union  which  we  had 
loved  from  its  first  days. 


Page  eighty-one 

In  Lincoln's  day,  it  was  long  before  he  took 
his  rightful  place,  among  the  great  men  of  the 
United  States.  He  had  many  doubters.  There 
were  many  scoffers,  but  now  not  one  is  left.  Why 
that  great  difference?  That  great  difference  has 
been  explained  admirably  by  another  great  Amer 
ican,  by  Emerson,  who  said,  "You  cannot  see 
the  mountain  near." 


— 6  L  C 


Page  eighty-two 


GOVERNOR  DENEEN 

Introducing  the  English  Ambassador 

Again  it  is  my  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  a 
scholar,  author,  diplomat,  statesman,  expounder 
of  the  American  Constitution,  and  interpreter  of 
the  spirit  of  the  American  commonwealth,  His 
Excellency,  the  Ambassador  from  Great  Britain 
to  the  United  States. 


Page  eighty-three 


THE  ENGLISH  AMBASSADOR 

Lincoln  as  One  of  the  People 

MR.  GOVERNOR,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  CIT 
IZENS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  OWN  CITY — I  am 
come  to  say  a  very  few  words  to  you,  in  order 
that  I  may  bear  to  you  the  greetings  of  England, 
her  sympathy  with  you  on  this  day,  and  ex 
pression  of  the  reverence  and  honor  in  which 
she  holds,  as  you  hold,  the  memory  of  your  im 
mortal  President. 

Four  days  ago  I  had  the  privilege  of  delivering 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  a  message 
of  sympathy  and  a  tribute  of  admiration  from 
King  Edward  the  Seventh  and  now  I  want  to 
renew  and  repeat  the  substance  of  that  message 
to  you,  the  people  of  Springfield. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  my  friend  and  colleague, 
the  French  Ambassador,  has  just,  with  perfect 
truth,  compared  the  position  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  holds  in  your  history  with  that  which 
was  held  by  George  Washington. 


Page  eighty-four 

At  two  great  crises  of  the  fate  of  this  republic, 
Providence  gave  you  two  men  specially  fitted  to 
be  leaders  and  inspirers  of  the  nation.  George 
Washington  was  not  only  a  great  leader  in  war, 
but  was  a  wise  guide  in  peace,  and  it  was  the 
impression  of  his  upright  and  lofty  character  that 
held  your  people  together  in  their  hour  of  need. 

When  the  second  great  struggle  in  which  the 
fortunes  of  your  republic  were  involved  came  upon 
you,  and  the  conflict  between  slavery  and  its  ex 
tension,  and  freedom  and  its  preservation,  broke 
like  a  storm  upon  you,  you  found  in  Abraham 
Lincoln  the  one  man  who  was  fitted  to  meet  and 
to  grapple  with  that  awful  crisis.  I  remember 
how  in  England  those  of  us  who  sympathized  with 
the  cause  of  the  north,  as  did  the  great  majority 
of  the  English  people,  did  so  because  we  felt  it 
was  the  cause  of  humanity  and  freedom. 

I  remember  how  we  thought  and  felt  more  and 
more  as  months  and  years  passed,  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  the  man  whom  you  needed,  because 
he  possessed  what  was  the  supreme  and  essential 
gift  that  the  country  required.  He  was  a  man 
whom  the  people  could  trust,  because  he  was  the 


Page  eighty-five 

man  who  sprung,  himself,  from  the  people  and 
understood  the  people  as  perhaps  no  one  had  ever 
so  thoroughly  done  before. 

It  very  soon  became  certain  to  us  who  were 
watching  that  struggle  from  the  shores  of  Europe 
that  it  could  only  end  in  the  preservation  of  the 
Union;  for  the  people  of  the  north  and  the  west 
were  themselves  united  and  determined  to  main 
tain  the  Union,  and  that  the  only  chance  for  those 
who  were  trying  to  divide  the  Union  would  have 
been  if  there  had  been  faltering  and  wavering  in 
the  minds  of  the  northern  and  western  people. 
For  a  time  it  seemed  uncertain  whether  there 
might  not  be  that  faltering  and  that  wavering, 
but  we  saw  that  there  was  in  your  President  a 
man  of  steadfast  will  and  lofty  character,  a  man 
whom  no  reverses  could  affect  and  no  charges 
or  accusations  could  turn  from  his  path;  and  we 
saw  that  more  and  more  the  heart  of  the  people 
went  out  to  him,  because  they  felt  that  he  was  the 
true  interpreter  of  their  minds. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  one  essential  thing 
at  that  moment  was  that  the  people  should  have 


Page  eighty-six 

someone  to  hold  them  together.  Lincoln  held 
them  together.  He  held  them  together  because 
he  understood  how  they  felt. 

He  was  a  man  sprung  from  among  themselves 
who  had  come  to  know  the  minds  and  thoughts 
of  the  people  by  living  among  them  as  no  President 
had  ever  done  before;  and  when  this  crisis  came 
he  was  the  true  interpreter  to  himself  of  the  will 
and  thoughts  and  hopes  of  the  whole  nation,  and 
the  people  trusted  him.  They  trusted  him  be 
cause  they  knew  that  he  understood  them.  They 
trusted  him  because  they  knew  that  he  was  one 
of  themselves,  who  was  not  apart  from  them,  who 
was  not  looking  down  on  them,  who  was  not 
trying  to  study  them  like  distant  objects,  but 
who  was  one  of  themselves  and  felt  as  each  of 
them  felt,  himself.  That  was  his  greatness.  That 
was  what  fitted  him  to  be  the  man  for  the  moment. 
He  embodied  all  that  was  best  and  highest  in 
people's  minds.  His  life  is  far  more  eloquent  than 
any  words.  Nothing  that  we  can  say  or  do  can 
add  to  his  glory.  One  of  our  own  poets  has  said, 
in  an  ode  which  I  read  the  other  day,  speaking 
of  him: 


Page  eighty-seven 

"  For  there  are  lives  too  large  in  simple  truth, 
For  aught  to  limit,  or  knowledge  to  gauge, 

And  there  are  men  so  near  to  God's  own  roof 
They  are  the  better  angels  of  their  age. " 

Lincoln's  true  memorial  is  to  be  found  in  the 
legacy  of  greatness  he  has  given  us.  You  have 
erected  a  monument  to  him  here,  but  the  whole 
United  States  are  his  monument,  because  it  is 
owing  to  him  that  the  United  States  still  remain 
one  and  indivisible. 

He  was  one  of  those  who  are  a  perpetual  glory, 
not  merely  to  the  state  which  sent  him  to  the 
presidential  chair,  not  merely  to  the  nation  which 
owned  him  as  its  wise  guide  and  leader,  but  also 
to  humanity,  because  he  was  one  of  those  in  whom 
the  love  of  humanity,  the  love  of  justice  and  the 
love  of  freedom  burn  with  an  unquenchable  flame. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  be  thankful  that  in  your 
hour  of  need  Providence  gave  you  such  a  man, 
and  hold  his  memory  in  honor  forever. 


Page  tigUy-tigU 


GOVERNOR  DENEEN 

Introducing  Senator  Dolliver 

It  is  my  pleasure  to  present  to  you  next  the 
gifted  and  eloquent  son  of  our  neighboring  state, 
the  Honorable  Jonathan  P.  Dolliver,  United  States 
Senator  of  Iowa. 


Page  eighty-nine 


SENATOR   DOLLIVER 

Lincoln,  the  Champion  of  Equal  Rights 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — It  is  a  very  great 
pleasure  to  me  to  have  the  chance  of  partici 
pating  with  you  in  this  celebration,  and  I  share  with 
you  the  gratification  that  the  occasion  is  given 
more  than  a  national  significance  by  the  presence 
and  words  here  of  the  ambassador  of  that  nation 
which  befriended  our  national  infancy,  and  has 
been  our  friend  ever  since  the  foundation  of  this 
republic;  and  by  the  presence  here  and  helpful 
word  of  that  man  who  has  interpreted  our  insti 
tutions  to  the  English  speaking  world — "Pro 
fessor  Bryce, "  as  we  love  to  call  him,  Ambassador 
not  alone  of  the  English  king  and  the  English 
government  but  of  the  English  people  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States. 

The  memory  which  we  are  trying  to  celebrate 
today  is  too  great  for  any  political  party,  too 
great  to  be  the  heritage  of  a  single  nation,  too 
great  to  be  absorbed  in  the  renown  of  any  one 


Page  ninety 

century.  The  ministry  of  his  life  was  to  all  par 
ties,  to  all  nations  and  to  all  generations  of  men. 

Yet  there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  belongs  to  the 
American  people  and  a  sense  still  more  sacred 
in  which  it  belongs  to  you  of  Illinois  and  to  the 
city  of  Springfield,  where  his  life  was  lived  and 
where  his  body  lies  buried.  It  is  for  you  and 
your  children  to  care  for  his  fame  and  to  keep 
his  faith. 

Within  the  last  half  century,  this  old  neighbor 
of  yours,  once  derided,  once  despised,  once  mis 
understood  and  maligned,  has  been  lifted  up  into 
the  light  of  universal  history  where  all  men  and 
all  generations  of  men  may  see  him  and  make 
out,  if  they  can,  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

His  life  in  this  world  was  a  very  short  one,  less 
than  three  score  years,  only  ten  of  them  visible 
above  the  level  of  these  prairies,  yet  into  that 
brief  space  were  crowded  events  so  stupendous 
in  their  ultimate  significance  that  we  cannot  read 
the  volume  which  records  them  without  a  strange 
feeling  coming  over  us  that  maybe,  after  all,  we 
are  not  reading  about  a  man,  but  about  some 


Page  ninety-one 

sublime  automatic  figure  in  the  hands  of  the  infin 
ite  powers,  being  used  to  help  and  to  bless  the 
human  race. 

If  we  are  troubled  because  we  do  not  under 
stand  his  life  we  ought  to  be  encouraged  because 
no  previous  generation  of  our  people,  not  even 
that  among  which  he  lived,  was  able  to  understand 
him. 

While  he  lived  the  air  was  full  of  speculation 
about  his  purposes  and  the  plans  for  their  execution 
and  until  this  day  men  are  still  guessing  about  his 
education,  his  religion,  his  faculties,  and  the  in 
tellectual  account  from  which  he  drew  the  re 
sources  which  always  seemed  equal  to  his  task. 

There  are  some  who  claim  that  he  was  a  great 
lawyer.  I  do  not  believe  that  he  was  anything 
of  the  kind.  It  is  true  that  he  mastered,  though 
not  without  difficulty,  the  principles  of  the  common 
law,  and  it  is  also  certain  that  his  mind  was  so 
normal  and  complete  that  he  did  not  require  a 
commentary  nor  a  copy  of  the  "  Madison  papers, " 
thumb-marked  by  the  doubts  and  fears  of  three 
generations,  to  understand  that  the  men  who  made 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  were  build 
ing  for  eternity.  But  he  practiced  law  without 


a  library,  and  those  who  practiced  with  him  have 
said  that  he  was  of  no  account  in  a  lawsuit  unless 
he  knew  the  right  was  on  his  side. 

It  went  against  his  intellectual  as  well  as  his 
moral  grain  to  adopt  the  epigram  of  Lord  Bacon 
that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  a  case  be  good 
or  bad  until  a  jury  has  brought  in  its  verdict. 

The  old  judicial  circuit  about  Springfield  where 
he  practiced  law,  where  he  knew  everybody  by 
their  first  name,  and  everybody  liked  to  hear  him 
talk  as  they  sat  together  in  the  village  tavern  after 
the  day's  work  was  done,  undoubtedly  did  much 
for  him  in  many  ways. 

But  the  great  lawyers  who  are  present  in  this 
assembly  today  will  bear  me  witness  that  a  man 
who  habitually  gives  his  advice  away  for  nothing, 
who  has  not  the  foresight  to  ask  for  a  retainer, 
nor  the  energy  to  collect  a  fee  after  he  has  earned 
it,  whatever  other  gifts  and  graces  he  may  have, 
is  not  by  nature  cut  out  for  a  lawyer. 

I  have  talked  with  a  good  many  of  the  older 
men  who  used  to  practice  with  him,  and  from 
what  they  have  said  to  me,  I  think  that  the  notion 
was  even  then  slowly  forming  in  his  mind  that  he 
held  a  brief,  with  power  of  attorney  from  on  High, 


Page  ninety-three 

for  the  un-numbered  millions  of  his  fellowmen, 
and  was  only  loitering  about  the  county  seats  of 
Illinois  until  the  case  came  on  for  trial. 

You  are  to  hear  in  a  few  moments  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  orators  who  ever  spoke  the  English 
tongue  talk  of  "Lincoln  as  an  orator;"  but  if  he 
was  such,  the  standards  of  the  schools,  ancient 
and  modern,  will  have  to  be  thrown  away.  Per 
haps  they  ought  to  be,  and  when  they  are,  this 
curious  circuit-rider  of  the  law,  refreshing  his  com 
panions  with  wit  and  wisdom  from  the  well  of 
English  undefiled;  this  champion  of  civil  liberty, 
confuting  Douglas  with  a  remorseless  logic  cast 
in  phrases  rich  with  the  proverbial  homely  litera 
ture  of  our  language;  this  advocate  of  the  people 
standing  head  and  shoulders  above  his  brethren, 
stating  their  cause  at  the  bar  of  history  in  sen 
tences  so  simple  that  a  child  can  follow  them, 
such  a  one,  surely,  will  not  be  denied  a  place  in 
the  company  of  the  masters  who  have  added  some 
thing  to  the  triumphs  of  our  mother  tongue. 

He  was  dissatisfied  with  his  modest  address  at 
Gettysburg,  read  awkwardly  from  poorly  written 
manuscript.  He  turned  to  Edward  Everett  and 
told  him  that  his  masterly  oration  was  the  best 


Page  ninety-jour 

thing  he  had  ever  heard;  but  Mr.  Everett  did  not 
need  a  minute  for  reflection  to  make  him  discern 
that  that  little  piece  of  crumpled  paper  which 
the  President  held  in  his  unsteady  hand  that  day 
would  be  preserved  from  generation  to  generation, 
after  his  own  laborious  utterances  had  been  for 
gotten.  The  old  school  of  oratory  and  the  new 
met  that  day  on  the  rude  platform  under  the  trees 
among  the  graves,  and  congratulated  each  other. 
They  haven't  met  very  often  since,  for  both  of 
them  have  been  pushed  aside  to  make  room  for  the 
declaimer,  the  essayist,  the  statisticians  and  the 
other  peddlers  of  intellectual  wares  who  have  de 
scended  like  a  swarm  upon  all  human  deliberations. 
There  are  some  who  claim  that  Lincoln  was  a 
great  statesman.  If  by  that  they  mean  that  he 
was  better  informed  than  his  contemporaries  in 
the  administrative  technicalities  of  our  govern 
ment,  or  that  he  was  wiser  than  his  day  in  the 
creed  of  the  party  in  whose  fellowship  he  passed 
his  earlier  years,  there  is  very  little  evidence  of 
that  at  all.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  he 
clung  to  the  fortunes  of  the  old  Whig  leadership 
through  evil  as  well  as  good  report  and  that  he 
stumped  the  county  and  afterward  the  state;  but 


Page  ninety-five 

the  speeches  which  he  made  neither  he  nor  any 
body  else  thought  it  important  to  preserve.  He 
had  a  very  simple  political  faith,  short  and  to  the 
point.  "I  am  in  favor/'  said  he,  "of  a  national 
bank.  I  am  in  favor  of  the  internal  improvement 
system  and  a  high  protective  tariff. "  But  while 
he  followed  Henry  Clay  nearly  all  his  lifetime, 
more  like  a  lover  than  a  disciple,  yet  when  that 
great  popular  hero  died  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
called  upon  to  make  an  address  upon  the  occasion 
of  his  funeral  in  your  old  State  House,  he  passed 
over  without  a  word  the  whole  creed  of  the  party 
faith,  and  gave  his  entire  time  to  that  love  of  liberty 
and  that  devotion  to  the  Union  which  shone  even 
to  the  end  in  the  superb  career  of  Henry  Clay. 

Of  course  he  was  a  statesman;  but  when  you 
have  described  him  as  a  statesman,  whatever 
adjectives  you  use,  you  have  opened  no  secret 
of  his  biography.  You  have  rather  marred,  it 
seems  to  me,  the  epic  grandeur  of  the  drama  in 
which  he  moved.  Of  course  he  was  a  great  states 
man.  Exactly  so,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  setting  out  from 
Damascus,  became  a  great  man.  Exactly  so, 
Columbus,  inheriting  a  taste  for  the  sea,  devel 
oped  gradually  into  a  mariner  of  high  repute. 


Page  ninety-six 

There  are  some  who  have  made  a  study  more 
or  less  profound,  of  the  archives  of  the  rebellion, 
who  have  made  out  of  Mr.  Lincoln  a  great  military 
genius,  better  able  than  his  generals  to  order  the 
movement  of  the  armies  under  his  command.  In 
my  humble  opinion  there  is  hardly  any  evidence 
of  that.  He  was  driven  into  the  war  department 
by  the  exigency  of  the  times,  and  if  he  towered 
above  the  ill-fitting  uniforms  which  made  their 
way  through  one  influence  and  another  to  posi 
tions  of  brief  command  during  the  first  campaigns 
of  the  civil  war,  there  is  no  very  high  praise  in 
that  after  all. 

But  there  is  one  thing  about  him  that  I  have 
always  been  interested  in.  He  comprehended  the 
size  of  the  undertaking  which  the  nation  had  on 
hand  and  he  kept  looking  until  his  eyes  were 
weary  for  somebody  who  could  master  the  whole 
situation  and  get  out  of  the  army  what  he  knew 
was  in  it.  It  broke  his  heart  to  see  its  efforts 
scattered  and  thrown  away  by  quarrels  among  its 
officers,  endless  in  number,  and  unintelligible  for 
the  most  part  to  the  outside  world.  When  he 
passed  the  command  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac 
over  to  General  Hooker,  he  did  it  in  terms  of 


Page  ninety-seven 

reprimand  and  admonition  which  read  like  a  f ather's 
last  warning  to  a  wayward  son.  He  told  him 
that  he  had  wronged  his  country  and  wronged 
his  fellow  officers,  and  recalled  General  Hooker's 
insubordinate  suggestion  that  the  army  and  the 
country  both  needed  a  dictator.  Mr.  Lincoln  re 
minded  him  that  only  generals  who  won  victories 
have  ever  been  known  to  set  up  dictatorships; 
and  then  with  a  humor  grim  as  death  he  told  him 
to  go  on  and  win  military  success  and  he  would 
take  all  the  chances  of  the  dictatorship,  himself. 

If  General  Hooker  did  not  tear  up  his  commission 
when  he  got  that  letter,  it  only  shows  that  he  was 
brave  enough  to  stand  upon  his  naked  back  the 
lash  of  the  simple  truth. 

All  this  time  the  President  had  his  eye  on  a 
man  from  the  West  who  appeared  to  be  doing 
a  fairly  good  military  business  down  in  Tennessee, 
a  copious  worker  and  a  copious  thinker,  but  a 
very  meager  writer,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  afterward  de 
scribed  him  in  a  telegram  to  Burnside.  He  liked 
this  man.  Especially  he  liked  the  fact  that  in 
his  plan  the  advertisement  and  the  event  seemed 
to  have  some  relation  to  each  other.  He  liked 

— 7  L  C 


Page  ninety-eight 

him  also  because  he  never  "regretted  to  report;" 
and  so  after  Vicksburg  had  fallen,  after  the  tide 
of  the  rebellion  had  been  swept  back  from  the 
borders  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  the  Presi 
dent  wrote  two  letters,  one  to  General  Meade, 
holding  him  to  a  stern  account  for  his  failure  to 
follow  up  the  victory  at  Gettysburg,  and  the  other 
to  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  ordering  him  to  report  at 
Washington  for  duty.  The  letter  to  General  Meade 
was  never  sent.  You  will  find  it  resting  quietly 
in  the  collection  of  the  writings  of  Lincoln  by  Mr. 
Nicolay,  all  the  fires  of  its  mighty  wrath  long 
since  gone  out,  but  General  Grant  managed  to  get 
his;  and  from  that  hour  no  more  military  orders 
from  the  White  House;  no  more  suggestions  about 
the  movement  of  the  army;  no  more  orders  to 
advance.  He  left  it  all  to  him.  He  did  not  ask 
the  general  to  tell  him  what  his  plans  were.  He  left 
it  all  to  him;  and  as  the  plan  of  the  great  captain 
began  to  unfold,  gradually,  Mr.  Lincoln  dispatched 
from  the  White  House  a  telegram  to  the  head 
quarters  in  Virginia  in  these  words,  "I  begin  to 
see  it.  You  will  succeed.  God  bless  you  all.  A. 
Lincoln. " 


Page  ninety-nine 

And  so  these  two,  each  adding  something  to 
the  other's  fame,  go  down  in  history  together, 
God's  blessing  falling  like  a  benediction  upon  the 
memory  of  both. 

While  Mr.  Lincoln  lived,  even  the  great  men 
that  were  nearest  to  him  did  not  seem  to  enjoy 
the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance.  His  lonely  iso 
lation,  even  among  the  advisors  whom  he  chose 
to  sit  in  council  with  him  in  the  administration 
of  the  government,  has  always  seemed  pathetic; 
but  the  letters  and  papers  which  have  come  to 
light  as  one  by  one  the  actors  in  those  great  scenes 
have  passed  from  the  stage,  reveal  a  situation 
which  throws  the  light  of  comedy  upon  the  sorrow 
ful  experience  through  which  he  passed.  I  reckon 
that  among  the  greatest  intellects  our  institutions 
have  nurtured  was  William  H.  Seward,  of  New 
York,  the  great  Secretary  of  State;  and  yet  the 
record  recently  dug  up  shows  that  he  spent  nearly 
all  his  time  pestering  Mr.  Lincoln  with  contradic 
tory  pieces  of  advice,  and  that  he  finally  prepared 
a  memorandum  in  his  own  handwriting,  telling 
what  he  thought  ought  to  be  done,  and  ending  by 
an  accommodating  proposal  to  take  the  responsi 
bility  of  the  administration  off  Mr.  Lincoln's  hands. 


Page  one  hundred 

I  suppose  that  Salmon  P.  Chase  was  one  of  the 
greatest  men  we  have  ever  had  in  the  United 
States;  but  if  you  will  pick  up  the  current  number 
of  the  Scribner's  Magazine,  you  will  find  there 
some  very  curious  letters  from  Mr.  Chase,  letters 
that  I  would  be  the  last  man  to  use  for  the  purpose 
of  belittling  him;  but  I  rather  like  to  see  them, 
because  it  enables  us  to  interpret  the  size  of  the 
man  who  was  standing  by  his  side.  "He  never 
consults  me.  He  holds  no  cabinet  meetings/' 
said  this  full  grown  minister  of  finance,  prattling 
like  a  child. 

After  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  even  so  incor 
ruptible  a  patriot  as  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  known 
in  after  years  as  the  organizer  of  victory,  wrote 
a  letter  which  you  will  find  in  the  life  of  James 
Buchanan,  to  the  ex-President  then  quietly  resid 
ing  at  his  country  estate  near  Washington,  at 
Wheatland,  in  Pennsylvania,  a  letter  filled  with 
obloquy  and  contempt  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  said, 
speaking  of  the  defeat  at  Bull  Run,  that  it  was 
an  unnecessary  catastrophe. 

"The  imbecility  of  the  administration, "  he  said, 
"culminated  in  that  catastrophe;  and  irretrievable 
misfortune  and  national  disgrace  never  to  be  for- 


gotten  are  to  be  added  to  the  ruin  of  peaceful 
pursuits  and  national  bankruptcy  as  the  result 
of  Lincoln's  'running  the  machine'  for  five  full 
months. " 

From  the  sanctum  of  the  old  Tribune,  where 
for  a  generation  Horace  Greeley  had  dominated 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  people  as  no  American 
editor  has  done  before  or  since  his  day,  there 
came  to  the  White  House  a  curious  letter,  a  maud 
lin  mixture  of  enterprise  and  despair;  a  despair 
which  after  seven  sleepless  nights  had  given  up 
the  fight;  an  enterprise  characteristic  of  modern 
journalism,  asking  for  inside  information  of  the 
hour  of  the  surrender  that  was  obviously  near  at 
hand.  "You  are  not  considered  a  very  great 
man,"  said  Mr.  Greeley,  in  that  letter,  for  the 
president's  eye  alone. 

Who  is  this,  sitting  on  an  old  sofa  in  the  public 
offices  of  the  White  House  after  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  talking,  with  quaint  anecdotes  and  humor 
ous  commentaries,  with  officers  and  soldiers  and 
civilians  and  scattered  congressmen,  who  poured 
across  the  Long  Bridge  from  the  first  battlefield 
of  the  rebellion  to  tell  their  tale  of  woe  to  the  only 
man  in  Washington  who  had  sense  enough  left 


er *T\P'  hundred >two    , 

to  appreciate  it  or  patience  enough  left  to  listen 
to  it?  Is  it  the  log  cabin  student,  learning  to 
read  and  write  by  the  light  of  the  kitchen  fire  in 
the  woods  of  Indiana?  It  is  he.  Can  it  be  the 
adventurous  voyager  of  the  Mississippi,  inventing 
ideas  for  lifting  flat  boats  over  the  riffles  which 
impeded  his  journey,  and  at  the  same  time  medi 
tating  ideas  broad  as  the  free  skies,  for  lifting 
nations  out  of  barbarism,  as  he  traced  the  divine 
image  in  the  faces  of  men  and  women  chained 
together  in  the  auction  block  of  the  slave  market 
at  New  Orleans?  It  is  he. 

Can  it  be  the  awkward  farm  hand  of  the  Sanga- 
mon,  who  covered  his  bare  feet  in  the  fresh  dirt 
which  his  plow  had  turned  up  to  keep  them  from 
getting  sunburned,  while  he  sat  down  at  the  end  of 
the  furrow  to  rest  his  team  and  to  regale  himself 
with  a  few  more  pages  of  worn  volumes  borrowed 
from  the  neighbors?  It  is  he.  Can  it  be  the  country 
lawyer  who  rode  on  horseback  from  county  seat 
to  county  seat,  with  nothing  in  his  saddlebags 
except  a  clean  shirt  and  the  code  of  Illinois,  to 
try  his  cases  and  to  air  his  views  in  the  cheerful 
company  that  always  gathered  around  the  stove 
in  the  tavern  at  the  county  seat?  It  is  he. 


Page  one  hundred  three 

Is  it  the  daring  debater,  blazing  out  for  a  moment 
with  the  momentous  warning,  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand/ '  then  falling  back 
within  the  defenses  of  the  Constitution,  in  order 
that  the  cause  of  liberty,  already  hindered  by  the 
folly  of  its  friends,  might  not  become  an  outlaw 
in  the  land?  It  is  he. 

Is  it  the  weary  traveller,  setting  out  from  Spring 
field  on  his  last  journey  from  home,  asking  anxious 
neighbors  who  came  to  the  depot  to  see  him  off, 
to  remember  him  in  their  prayers,  and  talking  to 
them  in  sad  and  mystical  language  about  One  who 
could  go  with  him  and  remain  with  them,  and  be 
everywhere  for  good;  It  is  he. 

They  said  that  he  jested,  and  laughed  in  a  weird 
way,  and  told  objectionable  anecdotes  that  night, 
sitting  on  the  old  sofa  in  the  public  offices  of  the 
White  House.  They  started  ugly  reports  about 
him,  and  the  comic  newspapers  of  London  and 
New  York  made  cruel  pictures  of  him,  pictures 
of  his  big,  handsome  hands  that  were  about  to  be 
stretched  out  to  save  the  civilization  of  the  world, 
and  his  overgrown  feet,  feet  that  for  four  torn  and 
bleeding  years  were  not  too  weary  in  the  service 
of  mankind.  They  said  that  his  clothes  did  not 


Page  one  hundred  four 

fit  him,  that  when  he  sat  down  he  tangled  up  his 
long  legs  in  an  ungainly  fashion,  that  he  was 
awkward  and  uncouth  in  his  appearance. 

They  began  to  wonder  whether  this  being  a 
backwoodsman  was  really  a  recommendation  for 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  some  of  them 
began  to  talk  about  the  grace  of  courtly  manners 
which  had  been  brought  home  from  St.  James. 

Little  did  they  dream  that  the  rude  cabin  where 
his  father  lived  the  night  he  was  born,  yonder  on 
the  edge  of  the  hill  country  in  Kentucky,  would 
be  transfigured  in  the  tender  imagination  of  the 
people  until  it  became  a  mansion  more  stately 
than  the  White  House,  a  palace  more  royal  than 
all  the  palaces  of  the  earth.  It  did  not  shelter 
the  childhood  of  a  king,  but  there  is  in  this  world 
one  thing  at  least  more  royal  than  a  king — it 
is  a  man. 

They  said  that  he  jested  and  acted  unconcerned 
as  he  looked  at  people  through  eyes  that  moved 
slowly  from  one  to  another  in  the  crowd.  They 
did  not  know  him.  If  they  had  known  him  they 
might  have  seen  that  he  was  not  looking  at  the 
crowd  at  all — that  his  immortal  spirit  was  girding 
for  its  ordeal.  And  if  he  laughed,  how  could  they 


Page  one  "hundred  five 

be  sure  that  he  did  not  hear  cheerful  voices  from 
above?  For  had  he  not  read  in  an  old  book  that 
He  who  sitteth  in  the  Heavens  sometimes  looks 
down  with  laughter  and  derision  upon  the  impotent 
plans  of  men  to  turn  aside  the  everlasting  pur 
poses  of  God? 

It  took  his  countrymen  the  full  four  years  to 
find  out  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  the  light  of  the 
camp  fires  of  victorious  armies  they  learned  to 
see  the  outline  of  his  gigantic  figure,  to  comprehend 
in  part  at  least  the  dignity  of  his  character,  and 
to  assess  at  its  full  value  the  integrity  of  his  con 
science;  and  when  at  length  they  followed  his 
body  back  to  Springfield  and  looked  for  the  last 
time  upon  his  worn  and  wrinkled  face,  through 
their  tears  they  saw  him  exalted  above  all  thrones 
in  the  gratitude  and  the  affection  of  the  world. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  think  of  the  civil 
war  in  the  United  States  as  an  affair  of  armies, 
for  we  come  of  a  fighting  race,  and  our  military 
instinct  needs  very  little  encouragement — some 
think  none  at  all — but  it  requires  no  very  deep 
insight  into  the  hidden  things  of  history,  to  see 
that  this  conflict  was  not  waged  altogether  on 
fields  of  battle  nor  under  the  walls  of  besieged 


Page  one  hundred  six 

cities;  and  that  fact  makes  Abraham  Lincoln 
greater  than  all  his  generals,  greater  than  all  his 
admirals,  greater  than  all  the  armies  and  all  the 
navies  that  responded  to  his  proclamation. 

He  stands  apart  because  he  bore  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  our  institutions.  He  was  not  making 
his  own  fight,  nor  even  the  fight  of  his  own  country 
or  of  the  passing  generation.  The  stars  in  their 
courses  had  enlisted  with  him.  He  had  a  treaty 
never  submitted  to  the  Senate,  which  made  him 
the  ally  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  with  infinite  rein 
forcements  at  his  call;  and  so  the  battle  he  was  in 
was  not  in  the  woods  around  the  old  church  at 
Shiloh  nor  in  the  wilderness  of  Virginia.  He  was 
hand  in  hand  with  an  insurrection  older  than  the 
slave  power  in  America,  a  rebellion  old  as  human 
voracity  and  human  greed,  that  age  after  age 
had  filled  this  earth  with  oppression  and  wrong, 
denied  the  rights  of  man  and  made  the  history 
of  the  world,  in  the  language  of  the  historian 
Gibbon,  a  dull  recital  of  the  crimes  and  follies  and 
misfortunes  of  the  human  race.  And  so  he  was 
caught  up  like  Hezekiah,  prophet  of  Israel,  and 
brought  to  the  east  gate  of  the  Lord's  house,  and 
when  he  heard  it  said  unto  him,  "Son  of  man, 


Page  one  hundred  seven 

these  are  the  men  who  devise  mischief/'  he  under 
stood  what  the  vision  meant,  for  he  had  touched 
human  life  in  such  lowly  fashion,  living  a  humbler 
life  than  any  man  ever  lived  in  this  world,  except 
our  incarnate  Lord  who  had  not  even  where  to  lay 
his  head,  he  had  lived  such  a  life  that  he  knew 
instinctively  what  this  great,  endless  struggle  of 
our  poor,  fallen  humanity  is  and  how  far  the 
nation  had  fallen  away  from  its  duty  and  its 
opportunity. 

All  his  life  there  had  dwelt  in  his  recollection 
a  little  sentence  from  an  historic  document  which 
had  been  carelessly  passed  along  from  one  Fourth 
of  July  celebration  to  another,  for  nearly  eighty 
years,  "All  men  are  created  equal."  To  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  that  sounded  strangely  like  an  answer 
to  a  question  propounded  by  the  oldest  of  the 
Hebrew  sages,  "  If  I  despise  the  cause  of  my  man 
servant  or  my  maid  servant  when  he  contendeth 
with  me,  what  shall  I  do  when  God  riseth  up? 
Did  not  He  that  made  me  make  him?"  A  stra 
tegic  question  that  had  to  be  answered  aright  be 
fore  democracy  or  any  other  form  of  civil  liberty 
could  make  any  headway  in  the  world. 


Page  one  "hundred  eight 

He  knew  that  that  sentence  had  not  been  in 
spired  on  the  front  porch  of  a  slave  plantation  in 
Virginia.  He  understood  that  when  brave  men 
take  their  lives  in  their  hands  they  forget  time 
and  place  and  are  likely,  when  they  are  laying 
the  foundation  of  their  nations,  to  tell  the  truth  lest 
the  heavens  fall.  With  a  sublime  faith,  shared 
within  the  limits  of  their  light  by  millions,  he 
believed  that  sentence.  He  had  tested  the  depth 
of  it  till  his  plummet  touched  the  foundation  of 
the  earth.  From  his  youth  that  simple  saying 
had  been  ringing  in  his  ears :  "  All  men  are  created 
equal."  It  was  the  answer  of  the  eighteenth 
century  of  Christ  to  all  the  dim  milleniums  that 
were  before  Him;  yet  he  had  heard  it  ridiculed, 
narrowed  down  to  nothing  and  explained  away. 
And  with  those  millions  sharing  his  faith  within 
the  limits  of  their  light,  he  understood  that  sen 
tence  and  came  to  its  defense. 

With  one  stroke  he  brushed  away  all  the  wretched 
sophistry  of  partisan  expediency  in  American  poli 
tics  and  rescued  the  handwriting  of  Thomas  Jef 
ferson  from  obloquy  and  neglect. 

"I  think,"  he  said,  "that  the  authors  of  that 
notable  instrument  intended  to  include  all  men. 


Page  one  hundred  nine 

But  they  did  not  intend  to  declare  all  men  equal 
in  all  respects.  They  did  not  mean  to  say  that 
all  were  equal  in  color,  size,  intellect,  moral  de 
velopment,  or  social  capacity.  They  defined, 
with  tolerable  distinctness,  in  which  respects  they 
did  consider  all  men  created  equal — equal  with 
certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  This  they 
said  and  this  they  meant.  They  did  not  mean 
to  assert  the  obvious  untruth  that  all  men  were 
then  actually  enjoying  that  equality,  nor  that 
they  were  about  to  confer  it  immediately  upon 
them,  because  they  knew  that  they  had  no  power 
to  confer  such  a  boon.  They  meant  simply  to 
declare  the  right,  so  that  the  enforcement  of  it 
should  follow  as  fast  as  circumstances  would 
permit. 

"They  meant  simply  to  set  up  a  standard  maxim 
of  free  society,  which  should  be  everywhere  famil 
iarized  by  the  people,  always  reverenced,  constantly 
looked  to,  constantly  labored  for,  and  even 
though  never  perfectly  attained,  constantly  ap 
proximated;  thereby  constantly  spreading  and 


Page  one  hundred  ten 

deepening  its  influence  and  augmenting  the  value 
and  happiness  of  life  to  all  people,  of  all  colors, 
everywhere. " 

That  was  the  message  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to 
the  nations  of  the  world  and  to  the  ages  of  the 
world's  history;  and  for  fear  somebody  in  the  future 
might  say  that  that  was  a  mere  flourish  of  a  joint 
debate  with  Mr.  Douglas,  when  he  went  to  the 
capital  for  his  inauguration,  he  asked  them  to 
stop  the  train  at  Philadelphia,  and  so  it  is  said 
that  he  went  alone,  a  few  friends  only  following 
him  up  the  narrow  street,  until  he  came  to  the 
old  Hall  of  Independence,  where  our  fathers  put 
their  names  down  to  the  sublime  documents  which 
underlie  our  institutions,  and  standing  there,  by 
the  very  desk  where  their  names  were  signed,  he 
lifted  his  big  hand  up,  and  added  his  pledge  to 
theirs  that  he  would  defend  these  propositions 
with  his  life. 

Here  is  the  summit  from  which  your  old  neigh 
bor  looked  down  on  the  whole  world!  Here  is 
the  spiritual  height  from  which  he  was  able  to 
forecast  the  doom,  not  only  of  African  slavery  in 
the  United  States,  but  of  all  slaveries,  all  despot- 


Page  one  hundred  eleven 

isms,  all  conspiracies  with  avarice  and  greed  to 
oppress  and  wrong  the  children  of  God,  living  in 
God's  world! 

Here  is  the  mountain  top  from  which  he  sent 
down  his  great  message  to  mankind: 

"This  is  essentially  a  people's  contest;  on  the 
side  of  the  Union,  a  struggle  to  maintain  in  the 
world  that  form  and  substance  of  government 
the  leading  object  of  which  is  to  elevate  the  con 
dition  of  men,  to  lift  artificial  weights  from 
shoulders;  to  clear  the  path  of  laudable  pursuit 
for  all  and  to  afford  all  an  unfettered  start  and  a 
fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life. " 

Thanks  be  unto  God  the  war  for  the  Union 
ended  as  it  did — that  we  are  not  enemies  but 
friends,  with  one  nation,  one  flag,  one  destiny 
in  the  midst  of  the  ages.  Thanks  be  unto  God 
also  that  at  the  foundation  there  is  no  division 
of  parties  about  our  institutions.  We  share  in 
the  heritage  of  a  common  faith  in  those  institu 
tions  as  founded  by  our  fathers.  As  Democrats 
we  repeat  the  words  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  "  Equal 
rights  to  all,  special  privileges  to  none."  As 
Republicans,  we  echo  in  the  words  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  "An  unfettered  start  and  a  fair  chance 


Page  one  hundred  twelve 

in  the  race  of  life."  The  doctrine  is  the  same. 
Nor  is  the  time  as  far  off  as  some  may  think  who 
breathe  the  atmosphere  of  the  great  centers  of 
American  business  and  speculation,  when  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States,  without  regard  to  party 
affiliations  will  cherish  in  grateful  hearts  the  bold 
and  fearless  platform  which  made  the  last  seven 
years  at  our  capitol  famous  in  the  language  of 
the  American  people,  "A  square  deal  for  every 
man."  No  more,  no  less.  The  doctrine  is  the 
same,  and  if  it  be  not  true,  then  there  is  no  founda 
tion  either  for  the  religion  or  for  the  institutions 
which  we  have  inherited  from  our  fathers  and 
our  mothers. 

But  the  doctrine  is  forever  true,  and  standing 
this  day  by  the  grave  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  our 
hearts  filled  with  the  heroic  memories  of  other 
generations,  we  swear  for  us  and  for  our  children, 
by  his  blood,  to  make  the  doctrine  true  for  all 
nations  and  for  all  generations  and  for  all  the  ages 
that  are  to  come. 


Page  one  hundred  thirteen 


GOVERNOR    DENEEN 
Introducing  Mr.   Bryan 

I  cannot  "introduce"  you  to  the  next  speaker, 
because  he  is  known  to  all  of  you;  but  it  is  indeed 
a  great  pleasure  to  extend  the  greetings  of  this 
vast  audience  to  a  native  son  of  Illinois,  and  to 
an  adopted  son,  only,  of  Nebraska,  who  has  re 
turned  to  his  native  state  to  pay  his  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Honorable 
William  Jennings  Bryan,  of  Illinois  and  Nebraska. 


— 8  L  C 


Page  one  "hundred  fourteen 


HON.  WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN 

Lincoln  as  an  Orator 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — I  esteem  myself  for 
tunate  to  have  received  an  invitation  to  take  even 
a  minor  part  in  this  great  celebration.  I  thank 
the  committee  for  the  honor  that  it  has  done  me 
and  for  the  pleasure  it  has  given  me.  The  occasion, 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of 
one  whom  the  world  owns,  has  justified  the  coming 
of  these  distinguished  guests,  representing  two  of 
the  greatest  of  the  nations  of  the  world,  one  which 
we  remember  because  of  the  help  received  at  a 
critical  time,  and  the  other  which  we  remember 
because  the  relations  between  the  two  nations 
illustrate  how,  among  intelligent  people,  differences 
may  be  forgotten  and  ties  of  friendship  strength 
ened,  in  spite  of  war. 

I  have  been  delighted  with  the  splendid  oration 
which  has  been  delivered  by  the  Senator  from 
Iowa.  I  knew  him  too  well  to  expect  less;  and 
knowing  that  to  him  was  assigned  the  important 


Page  one  hundred  fifteen 

part  of  presenting  a  well-rounded  eulogy  of  Lin 
coln,  I  chose  to  speak  for  a  moment  upon  a  par 
ticular  feature  in  Lincoln's  life.  I  knew  that  Mr. 
Dolliver  would  illustrate  what  I  want  to  say,  but 
I  felt  sure  that  he  would  devote  so  much  of  his 
time  to  the  other  characteristics  brought  out  by 
Lincoln's  life,  that  he  might  leave  me  just  a  little 
to  say  of  Lincoln  as  an  orator. 

This  part  of  his  life  and  of  his  qualities  has,  I 
think,  been  overshadowed  by  his  great  career  as 
a  statesman. 

Lincoln's  fame  as  a  statesman  and  as  the  nation's 
chief  executive  during  its  most  crucial  period  has 
so  overshadowed  his  fame  as  an  orator  that  his 
merits  as  a  public  speaker  have  not  been  suffi 
ciently  emphasized. 

You  will  pardon  me,  therefore,  if  I  pass  over 
the  tilings  that  are  most  mentioned  in  his  life, 
and  the  virtues  that  have  been  so  eloquently  por 
trayed  today,  and  speak  of  the  part  which  Lin 
coln's  ability  as  a  public  speaker  played  in  his 
career  and,  through  him,  in  this  part  of  our 
nation's  history. 

Lincoln  more  than  any  other  President  we  have 
ever  had,  owes  his  eminence  to  his  power  as  a 


Page  one  hundred  sixteen 

public  speaker.  Without  that  power  he  would 
have  been  unknown  among  the  members  of  his 
party. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  his  nomination  was 
directly  due  to  the  prominence  which  he  won 
upon  the  stump;  that  in  a  remarkable  series  of 
debates  he  held  his  own  against  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  orators  America  has  produced;  and  that 
to  his  speeches,  more  than  to  the  arguments  of 
any  other  one  man,  or  in  fact,  of  all  other  public 
men  combined  was  due  the  success  of  his  party — 
when  all  these  facts  are  borne  in  mind,  it  will 
appear  plain,  even  to  the  casual  observer,  that  too 
little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  extraordin 
ary  power  which  he  exercised  as  a  speaker.  That 
his  nomination  was  due  to  the  effect  that  his 
speeches  produced,  can  not  be  disputed.  When 
he  began  his  fight  against  slavery  in  1854  he  was 
but  little  known  outside  of  the  counties  in  which 
he  attended  court.  It  is  true  that  he  had  been  a 
member  of  Congress  some  years  before,  but  at 
that  time  he  was  not  stirred  by  any  great  emotion 
or  connected  with  the  discussion  of  any  important 
theme,  and  he  made  but  little  impression  upon 
national  politics.  No  subject  had  then  stirred 


Page  one  hundred  seventeen 

his  latent  energies  into  life.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
distinction  in  the  communities  which  he  visited, 
but  he  was  not  known  beyond  a  limited  area. 
It  was  when,  in  1854,  he  found  a  cause  worthy  of 
his  championship,  that  he  came  from  obscurity 
into  great  prominence.  It  was  when  the  question 
of  the  extension  of  slavery  became  a  real  issue, 
that  he  stepped  forth  and  became  the  representa 
tive  of  the  anti-slavery  sentiment. 

It  so  happened  that  there  lived  in  Illinois  the 
man  who  represented  the  other  side  of  that  ques 
tion,  a  great  orator,  one  of  the  greatest  that  this 
nation  has  known,  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  debate, 
polished  and  having  had  experience  at  the  nation's 
capitol  among  the  nation's  foremost  men,  and 
when  this  issue  began  to  take  form,  Lincoln  ap 
peared  as  the  antagonist  of  Douglas. 

Beginning  in  1854,  he  counteracted  as  he  could 
the  influence  of  the  speeches  of  Douglas.  When 
Douglas  appeared  in  1858  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Senate,  to  succeed  himself,  Lincoln  presented  him 
self  as  his  opponent.  Then  began  the  most  re 
markable  series  of  debates  that  this  world  has 
ever  known.  History  records  no  such  series  of 
public  speeches. 


Page  one  hundred  eighteen 

In  order  to  have  a  great  debate,  you  must  have 
a  great  subject.  You  must  have  great  debaters, 
and  you  must  have  a  people  ready  for  the  subject. 
Here  were  the  people  ready  for  the  issue.  Here 
was  an  issue  as  great  as  ever  stirred  a  human 
heart.  Here  were  the  representatives  on  either 
side. 

In  engaging  in  this  contest  with  Douglas  he 
met  a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel,  for  Douglas  had 
gained  a  deserved  reputation  as  a  great  debater, 
and  recognized  that  his  future  depended  upon  the 
success  with  which  he  met  the  attacks  of  Lincoln. 
On  one  side  an  institution  supported  by  history 
and  tradition  and  on  the  other  a  growing  sentiment 
against  the  holding  of  a  human  being  in  bondage 
— these  presented  a  supreme  issue. 

Lincoln  was  defeated  in  the  debates  so  far  as 
the  immediate  result  was  concerned.  Douglas 
won  the  senatorial  seat  for  which  the  two  at  that 
time  contested  but  Lincoln  won  the  presidency 
in  the  same  contest. 

Lincoln  won  the  larger  victory  in  that  he  helped 
to  mould  the  sentiment  that  was  dividing  parties 
and  re-arranging  the  political  map  of  the  country. 
That  series  of  debates  focused  public  attention 


Page  one  hundred  nineteen 

upon  Lincoln,  and  because  of  the  masterly  man 
ner  in  which  he  presented  his  side  of  that  great 
issue,  he  became  the  leader  of  the  forces  against 
extension. 

It  was  because  of  that  leadership,  won  in  the 
forum  and  on  the  stump,  and  by  his  power  of 
speech  that,  coming  from  the  west,  the  far  west, 
with  nothing  to  command  him  but  the  zeal  and 
the  earnestness  and  the  force  with  which  he  pre 
sented  the  cause,  he  triumphed  in  his  convention. 
He  was  not  only  a  western  man,  but  a  man  lacking 
in  book  learning  and  the  polish  of  the  schools. 

He  laid  the  foundations  for  his  party  more  than 
any  other  one  man,  aye,  more  than  all  the  rest 
combined.  He  won  that  fight  by  his  argument. 
His  leadership  rests  upon  his  superb  talent  as  a 
speaker.  No  other  American  president  has  ever 
so  clearly  owed  his  elevation  to  his  oratory. 
Washington,  Jefferson  and  Jackson,  the  presidents 
usually  mentioned  in  connection  with  him,  were 
all  poor  speakers.  I  insist  that,  when  the  history 
of  this  nation's  orators  is  written,  Lincoln  will 
stand  at  the  top,  for  this  nation  has  never  pro 
duced  a  greater  orator  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 


Page  one  "hundred  twenty 

In  analyzing  Lincoln's  characteristics  as  a  speaker , 
one  is  impressed  with  the  completeness  of  his 
equipment.  He  possessed  the  two  things  that  are 
absolutely  essential  to  effective  speaking — namely, 
information  and  earnestness. 

I  agree  with  Mr.  Dolliver  that  there  are  dif 
ferences  of  definition  and  that  some  will  describe 
oratory  by  one  set  of  phrases,  and  another  by  an 
other.  If  I  were  going  to  describe  Mr.  Lincoln's, 
I  would  describe  it  as  the  speech  of  one  who  knows 
what  he  is  talking  about  and  believes  what  he 
says.  These  are  the  two  essentials  in  oratory. 
You  cannot  convey  information  to  another  unless 
you  have  it,  and  you  cannot  touch  others7  hearts 
unless  your  own  heart  has  been  touched.  Elo 
quence  is  the  speech  that  goes,  not  from  head  to 
head,  but  from  heart  to  heart,  and  just  as  long  as 
there  are  great  causes  to  be  discussed,  just  as  long 
as  there  are  great  hearts  that  throb  in  harmony 
with  the  heart  of  mankind,  just  as  long  as  there 
are  men  with  a  message  to  deliver,  there  will  be 
oratory,  there  will  be  eloquence,  in  this  world. 

Lincoln  knew  his  subject.  He  was  prepared 
to  meet  his  opponent  upon  the  general  proposi 
tion  discussed,  and  upon  any  deductions  which 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-one 

could  be  drawn  from  it.  There  was  no  unsur- 
veyed  field  into  which  he  feared  his  enemy  might 
lead  him.  He  had  carefully  examined  every  foot 
of  the  ground  upon  which  the  battle  was  to  be 
fought  and  he  feared  neither  pitfall  nor  ambush. 
He  spoke  from  his  own  heart  to  the  hearts  of  those 
who  listened.  Not  only  was  he  completely  filled, 
saturated,  with  his  subject,  but  he  felt  that  that 
subject  transcended  the  petty  ambitions  of  man. 
I  wish  I  might  have  lived  early  enough  to  have 
listened  to  one  of  those  debates.  We  know  how 
feebly  the  printed  page  conveys  the  thrill  that 
comes  from  the  heart  of  one  who  speaks  with 
earnestness;  but  I  can  imagine  how  his  face  glowed 
with  enthusiasm  and  I  can  imagine  how  his  voice 
trembled  with  emotion,  when  he  said,  "  It  matters 
little  whether  they  vote  Judge  Douglas  or  me  up 
or  down,  but  it  does  matter  whether  this  question 
is  settled  right  or  wrong." 

Lincoln  understood  a  bible  passage  at  which 
some  have  stumbled,  "He  that  saveth  his  life 
shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  My 
sake  shall  find  it."  He  knew  that  that  phrase 
has  a  larger  interpretation  than  is  sometimes  given 
to  it.  It  is  the  very  epitome  of  history.  The 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-two 

man  who  has  no  higher  ambition  than  to  save 
his  own  life,  leads  a  little  life;  while  those  who 
stand  ready  to  give  themselves  for  things  greater 
than  themselves,  find  a  larger  life  than  the  life 
that  they  surrender.  Wendell  Phillips  has  ex 
pressed  the  same  thought  that  will  live  when  he 
says,  "How  prudently  most  men  sink  into  name 
less  graves,  while  now  and  then  a  few  forget  them 
selves  into  immortality." 

It  is  not  by  remembering  ourselves,  but  by 
forgetting  ourselves  in  devotion  to  things  larger 
than  ourselves  that  we  win  immortality,  and 
Lincoln  felt  that  the  subject  with  which  he  dealt 
was  larger  than  any  human  being,  larger  than  any 
party,  larger  than  any  country,  as  large  as  human 
ity  itself;  and  with  those  two  essentials,  knowledge 
of  the  subject  and  intense  earnestness,  he  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  eloquent. 

Lincoln  had  also  the  subordinate  characteristics, 
if  I  may  so  describe  them,  that  aid  the  public 
speaker. 

He  was  a  master  of  the  power  of  statement. 
Few  have  equalled  him  in  the  ability  to  strip  a 
truth  of  surplus  verbiage  and  present  it  in  its 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-three 

naked  strength.  He  could  state  a  question  so 
clearly  that  one  could  hardly  misunderstand  it 
when  he  wanted  to. 

In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we  read 
that  there  are  certain  self-evident  truths,  which 
are  therein  enumerated.  I  endorse  the  statement. 
I  could  go  even  farther.  If  I  were  going  to  amend 
the  proposition,  I  would  say  that  all  truth  is 
self-evident.  Not  that  any  truth  will  be  uni 
versally  accepted,  for  not  all  are  in  a  position 
or  in  an  attitude  to  accept  any  given  truth.  In 
the  interpretation  of  the  parable  of  the  sower, 
we  are  told  that  "  the  cares  of  this  world  and  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches  choke  the  truth,"  and  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  every  truth  has  these 
or  other  difficulties  to  contend  with. 

The  best  service  that  anyone  can  render  a  truth 
is  to  speak  it  so  clearly  that  it  can  be  understood, 
and  Lincoln  possessed  the  power  of  stating  a  truth 
so  clearly  that  it  could  be  understood. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  any  truth  can  be 
stated  so  clearly  that  no  one  will  dispute  it.  I 
think  it  was  Macaulay  who  said  that  if  any  money 
was  to  be  made  by  it,  eloquent  and  learned  men 
could  be  found  to  dispute  the  law  of  gravitation; 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-four 

but  what  I  mean  to  say  is  this — that  a  truth  may 
be  so  clearly  stated  that  no  one  will  dispute  it 
unless  he  has  some  special  reason  for  not  seeing 
it,  or  for  disputing  it;  and  when  you  find  one  who 
does  not  want  to  see  the  truth,  there  is  no  use 
to  reason  with  him  or  argue  with  him.  It  is  a 
waste  of  time.  For  instance,  if  you  say  to  a  man, 
"It  is  wrong  to  steal"  and  he  said  "0,  I  don't 
know  about  that, "  it  speaks  a  self-evident  truth. 
Don't  argue  with  him.  Just  search  him  and  you 
may  find  the  reason  in  his  pocket. 

No  one  has  more  clearly  stated  the  fundamental 
objections  to  slavery  than  Lincoln  stated  them, 
and  he  had  a  great  advantage  over  his  opponents 
in  being  able  to  state  those  objections  frankly; 
for  Judge  Douglas  neither  denounced  nor  defended 
slavery  as  an  institution — his  plan  embodied  a 
compromise  and  he  could  not  discuss  slavery  upon 
its  merits  without  alienating  either  the  slave 
owner  or  the  abolitionist. 

Lincoln  was  not  only  a  master  of  statement, 
but  he  understood  the  power  of  condensation. 
The  epigram  is  valuable  because  it  contains  so 
much  in  a  small  compass. 


Page  one  "hundred  twenty-five 

We  speak  of  moulders  of  thought.  A  moulder 
of  thought  is  not  necessarily  a  creator  of  thought. 
Just  as  the  bullet  moulder  will  put  lead  into  a 
form  in  which  it  can  be  used  effectively,  so  a  moul 
der  of  thought  puts  thought  into  a  form  that 
makes  it  easy  to  take  hold  of  and  easy  to  remem 
ber,  and  Lincoln  was  a  moulder  of  thought. 
He  did  not  create  the  anti-slavery  sentiment.  He 
gave  expression  to  it.  He  was  the  spokesman  of 
his  party,  and  he  framed  into  words  and  into 
sentences  and  into  phrases  the  ideas  of  those  who 
followed  him.  Just  as  Jefferson  was  the  moulder 
of  the  thought  of  his  day,  Lincoln  was  the  moulder 
of  the  thought  of  his  time,  and  people  who  agreed 
with  him  found  themselves  quoting  what  he  said. 
Why?  Because  he  said  it  better  than  they  could 
say  it  and  better  than  anyone  else  had  said  it. 

He  was  apt  in  illustration — no  one  more  so. 
It  is  a  powerful  form  of  argument.  His  illustra 
tions  were  drawn  from  everyday  life.  They  were 
simple.  A  child  could  understand  them  and  they 
made  his  arguments  irresistible.  His  language 
was  simple.  Many  have  discussed  whether  Lin 
coln  would  have  been  as  great  a  man  as  he  was 
if  he  had  had  larger  educational  advantages.  It 


Page  one  "hundred  twenty-six 

is  not  worth  while  to  discuss  that  question  now. 
It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  a  man  may  know  big 
words  without  using  them  at  inappropriate  times. 
Lincoln  used  no  big  words.  He  never  spoke  over 
the  heads  of  his  audiences,  and  yet  his  language 
was  never  commonplace.  His  language  was  simple 
and  his  speech  had  the  strength  that  simplicity 
gives  it.  Lincoln  may  rest  his  fame  as  an  orator 
on  the  one  speech  delivered  on  the  battlefield  of 
Gettysburg.  He  condensed  into  that  speech  more 
than  can  be  found  in  any  similar  speech  that  was 
ever  uttered  by  lips  that  were  not  inspired.  He 
illustrated  the  knowledge  of  the  people,  he  dis 
closed  the  earnestness  of  the  heart  that  was 
back  of  the  tongue;  and  the  language  was  so  simple 
that  anyone  could  fully  understand  it,  and  it  was 
so  short  that  any  memory  can  hold  it  and  carry  it. 
He  understood  the  power  of  the  interrogatory, 
for  some  of  his  most  powerful  arguments  were 
condensed  into  questions.  Of  all  those  who  dis 
cussed  the  evils  of  separation  and  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  the  preservation  of  the  Union, 
no  one  ever  put  the  matter  more  forcibly  than 
Lincoln  did  when,  referring  to  the  possibility  of 
war  and  the  certainty  of  peace  some  time,  even 


Page  one  "hundred  twenty-seven 

if  the  Union  was  divided;  he  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  same  question  would  have  to 
be  dealt  with,  and  then  asked,  "  Can  enemies  make 
treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws?" 

Lincoln,  I  say  had  the  essentials  of  the  orator, 
and  he  added  to  those  the  things  that  aid  the 
orator,  and  his  oratory  is  as  much  a  part  of  his 
life  and  his  career,  as  is  the  oratory  of  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero  a  part  of  their  careers;  and  he  deserves 
to  have  his  name  written  with  theirs  among  the 
world's  great  orators.  Someone  has  described  the 
difference  between  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  by 
saying  that  "when  Cicero  spoke,  people  said, 
'  How  well  Cicero  speaks, '  but  when  Demosthenes 
spoke  they  said  'Let  us  go  against  Philip.' :'  The 
one  impressed  his  subject  on  the  audience,  and 
the  other  impressed  himself.  In  proportion  as 
one  can  forget  himself  and  become  wholly  absorbed 
in  the  cause  which  he  is  presenting  does  he  measure 
up  to  the  requirements  of  oratory. 

Lincoln  so  impressed  his  subject  on  an  audience 
that  the  audience  seemed  to  forget  him,  and  they 
have  not  remembered  him  as  an  orator  because 
they  were  so  intensely  interested  in  what  he  said; 
and  yet  what  higher  tribute  could  be  paid  to  a 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-eight 

man's  speaking  than  to  say  that  you  forgot  the 
speaker  because  you  were  aroused  by  what  he  said 
to  consider  the  thing  of  which  he  spoke. 

He  made  frequent  use  of  bible  language  and 
fortified  himself  by  illustrations  from  Holy  Writ. 
It  is  said  that  when  he  was  preparing  his  Spring 
field  speech  of  1858  he  spent  hours  trying  to  find 
language  that  would  express  the  idea  that  domin 
ated  his  entire  career,  namely,  that  a  republic 
could  not  permanently  endure  half  free  and  half 
slave,  and  that  finally  a  bible  passage  flashed 
through  his  mind,  and  he  exclaimed,  "I  have 
found  it!"  "The  American  people  are  a  bible- 
reading  people.  They  will  understand  a  quotation 
from  scripture, "  and  then  he  used  those  words, 
"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand;" 
and  I  think  I  risk  no  fear  of  contradiction  when  I 
say  that  there  has  never  been  any  other  bible 
quotation  that  has  had  as  much  influence  in  the 
settlement  of  a  great  question  as  that  bible  quo 
tation  that  Lincoln  uttered  in  his  humble  way. 

I  have  enumerated  some,  not  all,  but  the  more 
important,  of  his  characteristics  as  an  orator.  On 
this  day  I  venture  for  the  moment  to  turn  the 
thoughts  of  this  audience  away  from  the  great 


Page  one  hundred  twenty-nine 

work  that  he  accomplished  as  a  patriot,  away 
from  his  achievements  in  the  life  of  statecraft,  to 
the  means  employed  by  him  to  bring  before  the 
public  the  ideas  which  attracted  attention  to  him. 
It  cannot  be  entirely  overlooked  as  the  returning 
anniversary  of  his  birth  calls  increasing  attention 
to  the  widening  influence  of  his  work.  With  no 
military  career  to  dazzle  the  eye  or  excite  the 
imagination,  with  no  public  service  to  make  his 
name  familiar  to  the  reading  public,  his  elevation 
to  the  Presidency  would  have  been  impossible 
without  his  oratory.  The  eloquence  of  Demos 
thenes  and  Cicero  were  no  more  necessary  to  their 
work,  and  Lincoln  deserves  to  have  his  name 
written  on  the  scroll  with  theirs. 

But,  my  friends,  while  I  believe  that  Lincoln's 
oratory  is  responsible,  primarily,  for  his  promi 
nence,  and  that  it  was  the  foundation  of  all  the 
superstructure  of  statesmanship  that  was  built 
afterward,  still  there  was  something  back  of  his 
oratory,  as  there  must  be  something  back  of  all 
effective  oratory.  He  planted  himself  upon  prin 
ciples  that  are  eternal.  He  saw  the  relation  be 
tween  man  and  money,  and  expressed  his  belief 

— 9  L  C 


Page  one  "hundred  thirty 

in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Boston  club,  who  had 
invited  him  to  celebrate  with  them  the  birthday 
of  Jefferson.  He  could  not  go,  but  in  his  letter 
he  commended  Jefferson's  teaching  and  praised 
him.  His  eulogy  of  Jefferson  was  not  surpassed 
by  any  other  eulogy  that  has  been  pronounced 
on  Jefferson.  In  his  letter  he  said  that  his  party 
believed  in  the  man  and  the  dollar,  but  in  case 
of  conflict,  it  believed  in  the  man  before  the  dollar. 

My  friends,  that  was  not  a  transient  sentiment. 
That  was  not  a  truth  applicable  to  a  particular 
time.  You  may  go  back  in  history  as  far  as  you 
will.  You  may  look  forward  into  the  future  as  far 
as  you  will,  and  you  will  find  that  there  never  was 
a  great  abuse  and  never  will  be  a  great  abuse, 
that  did  not  grow  or  will  not  grow,  out  of  the 
inversion  of  the  proper  relation  between  man  and 
money. 

Lincoln  saw  that  man  came  first  and  money 
afterwards.  He  planted  himself  on  that  doctrine. 
That  doctrine  is  the  solid  rock,  and  because  he 
knew  that  he  could  not  be  mistaken,  he  was  not 
afraid  to  stand  there  and  face  anybody  who 
opposed  him. 


Page  one  'hundred  thirty-one 

And  to  my  mind,  Lincoln  illustrates  the  power 
of  truth  speaking  through  human  lips.  He  illus 
trates  the  power  of  truth  as  it  inspires  courage,  for 
his  moral  courage  was  as  superb  as  the  world  has 
ever  known.  He  dared  to  do  what  he  thought 
he  ought  to  do.  He  dared  to  say  what  he  thought 
ought  to  be  said,  and  he  asked  not  how  many  or 
how  few  were  ready  to  stand  and  take  their  share 
with  him. 

Why  has  his  fame  grown?  Because  the  truth 
for  which  he  stood  has  grown;  and  I  cannot  better 
conclude  my  brief  speech  to  you  than  to  say  that 
Lincoln,  in  his  speech,  and  in  his  career,  and  in  his 
fame,  illustrates  again  that  humble  bible  truth 
that  "One  with  God  shall  chase  a  thousand  and 
two  shall  put  ten  thousand  to  flight. " 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-two 


AT  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH 

At  10:30  a.  m.  religious  services  were  held  at 
St.  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran  church,  formerly 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  which  was  Mr. 
Lincoln's  place  of  worship  from  1849  to  1861. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  old  pew,  marked  by  an  appropriate 
bronze  tablet,  is  still  in  use.  The  following  address 
by  Dr.  T.  D.  Logan,  was  the  principal  feature  of 
this  meeting. 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-three 


REV.  THOMAS  D.  LOGAN,  D.  D. 

Lincoln  as  a  Worshiper 

It  was  a  cruel  tyrant,  a  heartless  slave-driver, 
who  said  to  Israel  in  bondage:  "Ye  are  idle, 
ye  are  idle;  therefore  ye  say,  Let  us  go  and  do 
sacrifice  to  the  Lord."  To  those  who  know  not 
God,  and  love  not  their  fellowmen,  the  worship  of 
God  seems  idleness.  Yet  it  is  as  natural  for  man 
to  worship  as  to  breathe.  Conscious  of  his  limi 
tations,  and  recognizing  his  dependence  upon  an 
Infinite  Being,  the  soul  of  man  craves  fellowship 
with  that  Being,  and  reaches  out  longingly  towards 
Him.  Thomas  Carlyle  says:  "It  is  well  said,  in 
every  sense,  that  a  man's  religion  is  the  chief  fact 
with  regard  to  him.  Of  a  man  or  of  a  nation  we 
inquire,  therefore,  first  of  all,  what  religion  they 
had?  Answering  of  this  question  is  giving  us  the 
soul  of  the  history  of  the  man  or  nation.  The 
thoughts  they  had  were  the  parents  of  the  actions 
they  did;  their  feelings  were  parents  of  their 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-four 

thoughts;  it  was  the  unseen  and  spiritual  in  them 
that  determined  the  outward  and  actual — their 
religion,  as  I  say,  was  the  great  fact  about  them. " 
Worship  is  worthship — an  acknowledgment  of 
worth.  Religious  worship  is  the  acknowledgment 
of  Supreme  Worth.  It  is  a  reverential  upward 
look,  the  pouring  out  of  the  soul  to  God,  and  if 
sincere  it  commands  respect,  even  when  one  knows 
that  the  worshiper  has  very  imperfect  ideas  of  the 
Being  whom  he  addresses.  The  Puritan  may  be 
unimpressed  with  the  grandeur  of  the  vast  cathe 
dral,  and  to  one  who  has  been  trained  in  the 
simpler  forms  of  worship,  the  more  elaborate 
ritual  may  be  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help  in 
his  devotion;  but  when  he  sees  the  humble  peasant 
kneel  before  the  altar,  he  recognizes  at  once  a 
fellow-worshiper.  One  is  ready  to  bare  not  only 
his  head  but  his  feet,  as  he  enters  the  Mohammedan 
mosque,  because  it  is  the  place  where  his  fellowman 
bows  before  the  Infinite.  Even  the  heathen,  who 
in  his  blindness  bows  down  to  wood  and  stone,  is 
entitled  to  our  sympathetic  regard,  because  accord 
ing  to  his  light  and  knowledge,  he  worships  as 
well  as  he  knows  how;  and  the  wise  missionary 
builds  his  instruction  upon  this  reverence  for  the 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-five 

Supreme.  Paul  addressed  his  Athenian  audience 
as  "very  religious, "  and  in  the  inscription  on  their 
altar  to  the  unknown  God,  he  found  a  text  from 
which  to  proclaim  Him  whom  they  ignorantly 
worshiped.  The  time  is  past,  if  it  ever  existed, 
when  worship  could  be  confined  to  any  particular 
locality.  Neither  in  Jerusalem  alone,  nor  in  the 
mountain  of  Samaria,  ye  shall  worship  the  Father. 
The  true  worshipers  shall  worship  the  Father  in 
Spirit  and  in  Truth;  for  the  Father  seeketh  such 
to  worship  Him.  Sincere  worship  always  com 
mands  respect,  while  the  pretense  of  worship  is 
beneath  contempt. 

The  place  where  we  have  assembled  on  this  the 
centennial  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is, 
therefore,  hallowed  ground;  and  it  is  fitting  that 
one  of  the  first  exercises  of  the  day  should  be  of  a 
religious  character.  For  twelve  years  prior  to  his 
election  to  the  Presidency,  Abraham  Lincoln  sat 
in  yonder  pew,  more  regular  in  his  attendance  at 
the  services  of  the  sanctuary  than  the  average 
communicant,  a  reverent  and  devout  worshiper  of 
Almighty  God  in  a  Christian  congregation.  That 
fact  in  itself  is  sufficient  to  make  this  old  church 
one  of  the  sacred  spots  to  be  visited  by  every  resi- 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-six 

dent  of  Springfield,  and  by  every  one  who  makes 
the  pilgrimage  to  this  city  to  view  the  places  so 
closely  associated  with  the  career  of  him  whose  life 
was  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  union  and  liberty. 

But  did  Lincoln  really  worship?  Was  he  sincere, 
or  was  it  all  a  pretense?  Strange  questions  to  ask 
concerning  one  to  whom  honesty  was  ascribed  as  a 
ruling  characteristic.  Can  it  be  that  Lincoln  was 
honest  in  his  business  dealings  and  in  his  political 
relations,  and  dishonest  towards  God?  Yet  such 
is  the  charge  that  has  been  made  against  him  by  a 
biographer,  whose  intimate  business  relationship 
has  led  some  to  accept  his  statements  as  authentic 
in  other  relations  of  which  he  had  but  slight  per 
sonal  knowledge.  Listen  to  the  accusation  as  it 
appears  in  Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln,  the  material 
for  which  was  supplied  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Herndon: 

"While  it  is  very  clear  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  at 
all  times  an  infidel,  in  the  orthodox  meaning  of  the 
term,  it  is  also  very  clear  that  he  was  not  at  all 
times  equally  willing  that  everybody  should  know 
it.  He  never  offered  to  purge  or  recant;  but  he 
was  a  wily  politician  and  did  not  disdain  to  regu 
late  his  religious  manifestations  with  some  regard 
to  his  political  interests.  As  he  grew  older  he  grew 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-seven 

more  cautious  *  *  *  He  saw  the  immense  and 
augmenting  power  of  the  churches  and  in  times 
past  had  practically  felt  it.  The  imputation  of 
infidelity  had  seriously  injured  him  in  several  of 
his  earlier  political  contests;  and,  sobered  by  age 
and  experience,  he  was  resolved  that  the  same 
imputation  should  injure  him  no  more.  Aspiring 
to  lead  religious  communities,  he  foresaw  that  he 
must  not  appear  as  an  enemy  within  the  gates; 
aspiring  to  public  honors  under  the  auspices  of  a 
political  party  which  persistently  summoned  relig 
ious  people  to  assist  in  the  extirpation  of  that  which 
is  denounced  as  the  '  Nation 's  sin/  he  foresaw  that 
he  could  not  ask  their  suffrages  whilst  aspersing 
their  faith.  He  perceived  no  reasons  for  changing 
his  convictions,  but  he  did  perceive  many  good  and 
cogent  reasons  for  not  making  them  public  *  *  * 
At  any  rate  Mr.  Lincoln  permitted  himself  to  be 
misunderstood  and  misrepresented  by  some  enthu 
siastic  ministers  and  exhorters  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact. " 

If  the  above  charge  can  be  sustained,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  neither  a  sincere  worshiper  nor  an  honest  man. 
He  might  have  been  an  infidel  or  even  an  atheist 
and  still  have  been  a  good  man.  He  might  have 


Page  one  "hundred  thirty-eight 

worshiped  here  without  approving  every  sentiment 
expressed  from  the  pulpit.  The  Presbyterian 
church  requires  no  such  surrender  of  individual 
opinion  on  the  part  of  worshipers,  or  even  on  the 
part  of  its  members.  Since  the  adoption  of  its 
doctrinal  standards  in  1729,  it  has  welcomed  to 
fellowship  in  sacred  ordinances  all  such  as  there  is 
ground  to  believe  Christ  will  at  last  admit  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  In  matters  of  individual 
opinion  or  interpretation  there  was  room  for  much 
latitude;  but  there  was  not  room  for  the  hypocriti 
cal  pretense  of  holding  views  which  in  his  heart  he 
spurned.  "  God  is  a  Spirit;  and  they  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  Spirit  and  in  TRUTH. " 
I  am  therefore  called  to  the  defense  of  the  sin 
cerity  of  Abraham  Lincoln  before  I  can  establish 
the  claim  that  he  was  a  true  worshiper.  This  re 
quires  that  we  shall  make  some  examination  into 
his  religious  views  as  well  as  his  religious  practices. 
In  doing  this  I  shall  endeavor  to  set  forth  the  facts 
as  they  are  contained  in  the  records  and  traditions 
of  this  church  and  of  this  community,  not  reading 
my  own  faith  into  his,  but  giving  the  testimony  of 
those  who  were  in  a  position  to  know,  and  allowing 
an  intelligent  public  opinion  to  decide  the  case. 


Page  one  hundred  thirty-nine 

Abraham  Lincoln's  parents  were  godly  people, 
Baptists  in  their  denominational  preferences,  and 
his  early  knowledge  of  the  Bible  was  derived  from 
this  source.  That  he  was  familiar  with  this  Book, 
and  that  his  literary  style  was  to  a  great  extent 
moulded  by  it,  are  facts  well  known  to  every  careful 
reader  of  his  letters  and  speeches.  The  straggling 
settlement  at  New  Salem  had  neither  church  nor 
school  house,  and  was  visited  seldom,  if  at  all,  by 
the  circuit  preachers  of  that  day.  There  was  a 
strong  skeptical  influence  there,  and  among  the 
few  books  that  were  passed  around  were  the  writ 
ings  of  Volney  and  Paine.  It  is  pretty  well  estab 
lished  that  Lincoln  imbibed  some  of  these  views, 
and  that  he  wrote  an  essay  on  the  subject  which 
his  employer  burned  in  the  stove,  leaving  the  world 
in  ignorance  of  the  extent  of  his  unbelief.  After 
coming  to  Springfield  in  1837,  he  was  not  a  regular 
attendant  at  any  church,  and  probably  very  seldom 
went  to  any  place  of  worship  prior  to  his  marriage. 
The  family  of  Mr.  Ninian  Edwards,  with  whom 
Mary  Todd  made  her  home,  were  Episcopalians, 
and  the  officiating  minister  was  the  Rev.  Charles 
Dresser,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  church. 
(The  records  of  that  church  show  that  it  was  the 


Page  one  hundred  forty 

fifteenth  wedding  since  the  organization  of  the 
parish  in  1835.  One  of  the  elders  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  church,  at  the  time  when  Mrs.  Lin 
coln  was  received  into  its  membership  in  1852, 
recollects  that,  in  her  examination,  she  said  that 
she  had  been  confirmed  in  the  Episcopal  church 
in  Kentucky  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  but  that 
she  had  not  been  identified  with  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Springfield,  and  preferred  to  make  a  new 
profession  of  her  faith.)  Older  members  of  St. 
PauPs  Episcopal  church  have  a  recollection  of  an 
occasional  attendance  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  at 
their  services,  but  there  is  no  record  of  her  as  a 
communicant,  nor  were  any  of  the  children  bap 
tized  in  that  church. 

The  connection  with  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  began  shortly  after  the  opening  of  the  pas 
torate  of  Dr.  James  Smith  in  1849,  and  the  intimacy 
between  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  the  pastor  was 
cemented  by  his  ministrations  at  the  time  of  their 
first  bereavement  when  their  son  Edward  died  Feb 
ruary  1,  1850.  The  universal  testimony  concern 
ing  Dr.  Smith  by  those  who  remember  him  is  that 
he  was  a  man  of  commanding  ability.  A  few  who 
sat  under  his  ministry  are  still  in  the  membership 


Page  one  hundred  forty-one 

of  the  church,  and  they  say  that  he  spoke  of  the 
deep  things  of  God  in  a  manner  which  made  the 
truth  plain  to  their  understanding.  Several  of  his 
descendants  are  members  of  the  church  at  the  pres 
ent  time.  He  was  the  author  of  a  book  on  the 
Evidences  of  Christianity  which  was  instrumental 
in  clearing  away  many  of  the  difficulties  which  had 
lodged  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  in  leading 
to  the  avowal  of  his  belief  in  the  scriptures  as  a 
supernatural  revelation  from  God,  in  a  public  ad 
dress  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Sangamon  County 
Bible  society.  The  local  biographer  speaks  of  this 
book  as  a  little  tract  which  Dr.  Smith  prepared  for 
the  express  purpose  of  converting  Mr.  Lincoln,  but 
that  the  effort  failed  as  the  tract  lay  on  his  desk 
for  weeks  and  was  not  even  read.  A  copy  of  the 
book  has  recently  come  into  my  hands.  It  is  en 
titled,  "The  Christian's  Defense,"  a  volume  of 
nearly  700  pages,  stereotyped  and  published  by  J. 
A.  James  in  Cincinnati,  in  1843,  and  is  the  out 
growth  of  a  debate  with  a  Mr.  Olmsted  conducted 
at  Columbus,  Mississippi,  in  1841.  It  is  fully 
abreast  of  the  scholarship  of  that  day. 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  attend 
ance   of  Mr.   Lincoln  at  the   First  Presbyterian 


Page  one  hundred  forty-two 

church  were  given  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Thomas 
Lewis  to  my  predecessor  in  the  pastorate,  Rev. 
James  A.  Reed,  D.D.,  under  date  of  January  6, 
1873.  "Not  long  after  Dr.  Smith  came  to  Spring 
field,  and  I  think  very  near  the  time  of  his  son's 
death,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  me  that,  when  on  a  visit 
somewhere,  he  had  seen  and  partially  read  a  work 
of  Dr.  Smith  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity  which 
had  led  him  to  change  his  views  about  the  Christian 
religion;  that  he  would  like  to  get  that  work  to  fin 
ish  the  reading  of  it,  and  also  to  make  the  acquain 
tance  of  Dr.  Smith.  I  was  an  elder  in  Dr.  Smith's 
church,  and  took  Dr.  Smith  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  office 
and  introduced  him,  and  Dr.  Smith  gave  Mr.  Lin 
coln  a  copy  of  his  book,  as  I  know,  at  his  own  re 
quest.  "  Mr.  Lewis  made  a  fuller  statement  on 
this  subject  in  an  address  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of 
Kansas  City  in  December,  1898.  The  address  was 
printed  in  the  Kansas  City  papers  of  that  date, 
and  copied  into  the  Illinois  State  Journal  of  Decem 
ber  16,  1908. 

This  statement  is  corroborated  by  an  open  letter 
from  Dr.  Smith  to  W.  H.  Herndon,  copied  from  the 
Dundee  Advertiser  by  the  State  Journal  on  March 
12,  1867,  as  shown  in  its  file  in  the  State  Historical 


Page  one  hundred  forty-three 

Library.  Dr.  Smith  had  been  appointed  Consul  at 
Dundee,  Scotland,  by  President  Lincoln,  and  was 
living  there  at  the  time  of  the  assassination.  Under 
date  of  December  22,  1866,  Herndon  wrote  an  im 
pertinent  letter  to  Dr.  Smith,  demanding  that  he 
answer  him  as  a  gentleman,  if  he  could,  and  if  not, 
to  answer  him  as  a  Christian,  stating  whether  he 
had  any  written  documents  proving  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln  had  been  converted  to  the  belief  that  the 
Bible  was  God's  special  miraculous  revelation;  or, 
in  the  absence  of  written  documents,  to  give  the 
exact  words  with  which  he  professed  his  change  of 
belief.  He  also  demanded  to  know  whether  Dr. 
Smith  believed  Lincoln  to  be  an  honest  man  if  he 
had  changed  his  views  and  still  declined  to  unite 
with  his  church.  Dr.  Smith  had  just  read  an  article 
of  Herndon 's,  which  appeared  in  the  Scottish  news 
papers,  making  statements  concerning  the  domestic 
life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  which,  from  his  intimate  ac 
quaintance  with  the  family,  he  knew  to  be  false. 
Much  of  the  letter  is  devoted  to  the  expression  of 
his  opinion  of  one  who  had  been  an  intimate  friend 
and  partner  of  the  murdered  President,  and  yet 
could  do  the  reputation  of  that  great  and  good  man 


Page  one  "hundred  forty-four 

an  incalculable  injury.  Omitting  this  part  of  the 
letter,  I  give  that  which  bears  upon  the  religious 
views  of  Mr.  Lincoln: 

"SiR — Your  letter  of  the  20th  December  was 
duly  received.  In  it  you  ask  me  to  answer  several 
questions  in  relation  to  the  illustrious  President, 
Abraham  Lincoln.  With  regard  to  your  second 
question,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  it  is  a  very  easy 
matter  to  prove  that  while  I  was  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  church  of  Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  did 
avow  his  belief  in  the  Divine  authority  and  in 
spiration  of  the  scriptures,  and  I  hold  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  the  last  importance  not  only  to  the  pres 
ent,  but  all  future  generations  of  the  great  Republic 
and  to  all  advocates  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
throughout  the  world,  that  this  avowal  on  his  part, 
and  the  circumstances  attending  it,  together  with 
very  interesting  incidents  illustrative  of  his  char 
acter,  in  my  possession,  should  be  made  known  to 
the  public.  I  am  constrained,  however,  most  re 
spectfully  to  decline  choosing  you  as  the  medium 
through  which  such  a  communication  shall  be  made 
by  me.  (The  part  of  the  letter  referring  to  Mr. 
Herndon  is  omitted.)  My  intercourse  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  convinced  me  that  he  was  not  only  an 


Page  one  hundred  forty-five 

honest  man,  but  preeminently  an  upright  man — 
ever  ready,  so  far  as  in  his  power,  to  render  unto  all 
their  dues. 

"It  was  my  honor  to  place  before  Mr.  Lincoln 
arguments  to  prove  the  Divine  authority  and  in 
spiration  of  the  Scriptures,  accompanied  by  the  argu 
ments  of  infidel  objectors  in  their  own  language. 
To  the  arguments  on  both  sides  Mr.  Lincoln  gave 
a  most  patient,  impartial  and  searching  investiga 
tion.  To  use  his  own  language,  he  examined  the 
arguments  as  a  lawyer,  anxious  to  reach  the  truth, 
investigates  testimony.  The  result  was  the  an 
nouncement  by  himself  that  the  argument  in  favor 
of  the  Divine  authority  and  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  was  unanswerable.  I  could  say  much 
more  on  this  subject,  but  as  you  are  the  person 
addressed,  for  the  present  I  decline.  The  assassin 
Booth,  by  his  diabolical  act,  unwittingly  sent  the 
illustrious  martyr  to  glory,  honor  and  immortality; 
but  his  false  friend,  has  attempted  to  send  him 
down  to  posterity  with  infamy  branded  on  his  fore 
head,  as  a  man  who,  notwithstanding  all  he  suf 
fered  for  his  country's  good,  was  destitute  of  those 
feelings  and  affections,  without  which  there  can  be 
no  real  excellence  of  character. " 

—10  L  C 


Page  one  "hundred  forty-six 

"N.  B.  It  will  no  doubt  be  gratifying  to  the 
friends  of  Christianity  to  learn  that  very  shortly 
after  Mr.  Lincoln  became  a  member  of  my  congre 
gation,  at  my  request,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
assembly,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bible  soci 
ety  of  Springfield,  he  delivered  an  address  the 
object  of  which  was  to  inculcate  the  importance  of 
having  the  Bible  placed  in  possession  of  every  fam 
ily  in  the  state.  In  the  course  of  this  he  drew  a 
striking  contrast  between  the  Decalogue  and  the 
moral  codes  of  the  most  eminent  law-givers  of  an 
tiquity,  and  closed  (as  near  as  I  can  recollect)  in 
the  following  language:  'It  seems  to  me  that 
nothing  short  of  infinite  wisdom  could  by  any  pos 
sibility  have  devised  and  given  to  man  this  excel 
lent  and  perfect  moral  code.  It  is  suited  to  men 
in  all  conditions  of  life,  and  includes  all  the  duties 
they  owe  to  their  Creator,  to  themselves,  and  to 
their  fellow-men. ' 

In  disclaiming  the  statements  purporting  to  have 
been  made  by  him  as  set  forth  in  Lamon's  Life  of 
Lincoln,  Hon.  John  T.  Stuart  wrote,  under  date  of 
December  17,  1872:  "The  language  of  that  state 
ment  is  not  mine;  it  was  not  written  by  me,  and  I 
did  not  see  it  till  it  was  in  print.  I  was  once  inter- 


Page  one  hundred  forty-seven 

viewed  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  religious 
opinions,  and  doubtless  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was, 
in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life,  an  infidel.  I  could  not 
have  said  that '  Dr.  Smith  tried  to  convert  Lincoln 
from  infidelity  so  late  as  1858,  and  couldn't  do  it. ' 
In  relation  to  that  point,  I  stated,  in  the  same  con 
versation,  some  facts  which  are  omitted  in  that 
statement,  and  which  I  will  briefly  repeat:  That 
Eddie,  a  child  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  died  in  1848  or  1849, 
and  that  he  and  his  wife  were  in  deep  grief  on  that 
account;  that  Dr.  Smith,  then  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  church  in  Springfield,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  a  lady  friend  of  theirs,  called  upon  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  that  first  visit  resulted  in 
great  intimacy  and  friendship  between  them,  last 
ing  till  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  continuing 
with  Mrs.  Lincoln  till  the  death  of  Dr.  Smith. 
(July  3,  1871.)  I  stated  that  I  had  heard,  at  the 
time,  that  Dr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  had  much 
discussion  in  relation  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  that  Dr.  Smith  had  furnished  Mr. 
Lincoln  with  books  to  read  on  that  subject,  and 
among  others,  one  which  had  been  written  by  him 
self  sometime  previously,  on  infidelity;  and  that 
Dr.  Smith  claimed  that  after  this  investigation  Mr. 


Page  one  "hundred,  forty-eight 

Lincoln  had  changed  his  opinion,  and  became  a 
believer  in  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion;  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself  had  never  conversed  on  the 
subject,  and  I  had  no  personal  knowledge  as  to  his 
alleged  change  of  opinion.  I  stated,  however,  that 
it  was  certainly  true,  that  up  to  that  time  Mr.  Lin 
coln  had  never  regularly  attended  any  place  of  re 
ligious  worship,  but  that  after  that  time  he  rented 
a  pew  in  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  and  with 
his  family  constantly  attended  worship  in  that 
church  until  he  went  to  Washington  as  President*  * 
I  would  further  say  that  Dr.  Smith  was  a  man  of 
very  great  ability,  and  on  theological  and  meta 
physical  subjects  had  few  superiors  and  not  many 
equals.  Truthfulness  was  a  prominent  trait  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  character,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for 
any  intimate  friend  of  his  to  believe  that  he  ever 
aimed  to  deceive,  either  by  his  words  or  his  con 
duct." 

Mr.  Ninian  Edwards7  statement  on  the  subject 
is  as  follows:  "A  short  time  after  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Smith  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  in  this  city,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  me, '  I  have 
been  reading  a  work  of  Dr.  Smith  on  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  and  have  heard  him  preach  and 


Page  one  hundred  forty-nine 

converse  on  the  subject,  and  I  am  now  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion. '"  Mr. 
James  H.  Matheny  wrote:  "The  language  attri 
buted  to  me  in  Lamon's  book  is  not  from  my  pen. 
I  did  not  write  it,  and  it  does  not  express  my  senti 
ments  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  entire  life  and  character. 
It  is  a  mere  collection  of  sayings  gathered  from  pri 
vate  conversations  that  were  only  true  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  earlier  life.  I  would  not  have  allowed  such 
an  article  to  be  printed  over  my  signature  as  cover 
ing  my  opinion  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life  and  religious 
sentiments.  While  I  do  believe  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
have  been  an  infidel  in  his  former  life,  when  his 
mind  was  as  yet  unformed,  and  his  associations 
principally  with  rough  and  skeptical  men,  yet  I 
believe  he  was  a  very  different  man  in  later  life; 
and  that  after  associating  with  a  different  class  of 
men,  and  investigating  the  subject,  he  was  a  firm 
believer  in  the  Christian  religion. " 

The  testimony  of  these  well-known  citizens  ought 
to  be  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  charge  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  infidel  sentiments  which  he  studiously 
concealed  from  those  with  whom  he  held  his  relig 
ious  associations,  and  it  confirms  the  opinion  that 
he  was  a  believer  in  the  truths  of  Christianity.  It 


Page  one  hundred  fifty 

is  not  claimed  that,  while  in  Springfield,  he  had 
passed  through  those  religious  experiences  which 
would  have  warranted  a  profession  of  his  faith;  but 
as  the  time  approached  when  he  was  to  undertake 
the  great  task  of  preserving  the  Union,  there  is 
evidence  of  a  depth  of  religious  sentiment  which 
had  not  been  known  before.  During  the  campaign 
of  1860,  he  said  to  Dr.  Newton  Bateman,  Superin 
tendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  afterwards  Pres 
ident  of  Knox  College,  "  I  know  that  there  is  a  God, 
and  that  he  hates  injustice  and  slavery.  I  see  the 
storm  coming,  and  I  know  that  His  hand  is  in  it. 
If  He  has  a  place  for  me — and  I  think  He  has — I 
believe  I  am  ready.  I  am  nothing,  but  truth  is 
everything.  I  know  I  am  right  because  I  know 
that  liberty  is  right,  for  Christ  teaches  it  and  Christ 
is  God."  The  night  after  the  vote  was  taken, 
when  sufficient  returns  had  been  received  to  insure 
his  election,  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  knee  of  Goyn 
A.  Sutton,  mayor  of  Springfield,  as  they  sat  in  a 
room  near  the  telegraph  office,  and  said :  "  Sutton, 
it  is  an  awful  responsibility;  God  help  me!  God 
help  me!"  When  the  Rev.  Albert  Hale,  pastor  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  asked  whether  he 
thought  he  could  carry  out  his  purposes  when  he 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-one 

reached  Washington,  Mr.  Lincoln  replied:  "I 
know  what  I  mean  to  do,  but  even  St.  Peter  denied 
his  Lord  and  Master."  And  when  at  length,  on 
February  11,  1861,  he  stood  on  the  platform  of  the 
car  at  the  Wabash  station  at  Monroe  and  Tenth 
streets,  and  bade  farewell  to  Springfield,  none 
questioned  the  sincerity  of  his  Christian  belief 
when  he  said: 

"Mr  FRIENDS — No  one  not  in  my  situation  can 
appreciate  my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting. 
To  this  place,  and  the  kindness  of  this  people,  I  owe 
everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man. 
Here  my  children  were  born,  and  one  lies  buried. 
I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when,  or  whether  ever 
I  may  return,  with  a  task  greater  than  that  which 
rested  on  the  shoulders  of  Washington.  Without 
the  aid  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  aided  him, 
who  controls  mine  and  all  destinies,  I  cannot  suc 
ceed.  With  that  assistance  I  cannot  fail.  Trust 
ing  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain  with 
you  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently 
hope  that  all  will  be  well.  To  His  care  commend- 


Page  one  "hundred  fifty -two 

ing  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  com 
mend  me,  I  bid  you,  friends  and  neighbors,  an 
affectionate  farewell. " 

Here  I  might  close  with  the  confident  assurance 
that  I  had  established  the  fact  that,  while  a  resi 
dent  of  Springfield,  for  ten  or  twelve  years  preced 
ing  his  departure,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  a 
sincere  worshiper.  It  may  be  well,  however,  to 
add  a  few  statements  concerning  his  religious  views 
and  practices  while  in  Washington.  Arriving  in 
that  city,  he  became  a  regular  attendant  of  the 
New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  church,  under  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Phineas  D.  Gurley.  There  were  two 
strong  characteristics  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  religious 
belief  to  which  he  gave  frequent  expression. 

He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 
This  is  attested  by  his  remarks  to  many  ministers, 
and  to  the  representatives  of  many  religious  bodies. 
An  interesting  and  somewhat  amusing  incident, 
which  I  am  sure  we  shall  all  enjoy  as  much  as  our 
Lutheran  brethren,  is  related  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  H. 
M.  Pohlman,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  He  was  one  of  a 
delegation  of  Lutheran  ministers  who  visited  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  the  White  House,  in  May  1862,  to  pre 
sent  the  resolutions  of  loyalty  adopted  by  their 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-three 

General  Synod;  and  in  addressing  the  President  he 
stated  that,  at  their  recent  meeting,  one  of  the  Ger 
man  ministers  from  Nashville,  in  a  patriotic  speech, 
declared  that  he  was  the  only  minister  in  that  city, 
while  it  was  within  the  Confederate  lines,  who 
dared  to  pray  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  reason  he  dared  to  do  so  was  be 
cause  "he  prayed  in  German,  and  the  rebels 
couldn't  understand  German,  but  the  Lord  could. " 
This  evidently  pleased  Mr.  Lincoln  greatly,  and  was 
treasured  in  his  memory.  Eighteen  months  after 
ward,  at  the  dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery 
at  Gettysburg,  Dr.  Pohlman  again  met  the  Presi 
dent,  and  supposed  he  would  need  to  be  again 
introduced,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  at  once  recognized 
him,  and  coming  forward  took  him  by  the  hand 
exclaiming,  "The  Lord  understands  German." 

The  statement  made  by  General  Rusling,  con 
cerning  what  President  Lincoln  said  to  General 
Sickles  after  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  has  been 
challenged  as  improbable,  and  even  impossible. 
General  Rusling  says  that  the  President  declared 
that  he  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  issue  of  that  battle, 
because,  just  before  it  began,  he  had  retired  to  his 
room,  and  getting  down  on  his  knees,  had  prayed 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-four 

to  Almighty  God  for  victory,  promising  that  if  God 
would  stand  by  the  Nation  now,  he  would  stand 
by  Him  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  late  Roland  W. 
Diller,  a  neighbor  and  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  wrote  to  General  Sickles,  under  date  of  June 
15,  1891,  inquiring  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  state 
ments,  and  he  received  the  following  reply :  "  Gen 
eral  Rusling  is  a  thoroughly  trustworthy  gentleman 
of  the  highest  standing  in  Trenton.  He  was  an 
officer  of  my  staff,  and  was  no  doubt  present  on 
the  occasion  mentioned,  but  I  could  not  after  so 
many  years  verify  all  the  details  of  his  narrative, 
but  it  is  substantially  confirmed  by  my  recollection 
of  the  conversation. " 

The  other  characteristic  of  Mr.  Lincoln 's  religious 
belief  was  a  recognition  of  Divine  Providence  which 
he  stated  frequently  in  terms  strong  enough  to  suit 
the  firmest  believer  in  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
Herndon  accuses  him  of  "holding  most  firmly  to 
the  doctrine  of  fatalism  all  his  life. "  This  he 
denied.  In  an  interview  with  a  number  of  Wash 
ington  ministers,  reported  by  Rev.  Dr.  Byron 
Sunderland,  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "I  hold  myself  in 
my  present  position,  and  with  the  authority  vested 
in  me,  as  an  instrument  of  Providence.  I  have  my 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-five 

own  views  and  purposes.  I  have  my  convictions 
of  duty,  and  my  notions  of  what  is  right  to  be 
done.  But  I  am  conscious  every  moment  that  all 
I  am  and  all  I  have  is  subject  to  the  control  of  a 
Higher  Power,  and  that  Power  can  use  me  or  not 
use  me  in  any  manner,  and  at  any  time,  as  in  His 
wisdom  and  might  may  be  pleasing  to  Him.  Never 
theless  I  am  not  a  fatalist.  I  believe  in  the  suprem 
acy  of  the  human  conscience,  and  that  men  are 
responsible  beings;  that  God  has  a  right  to  hold 
them,  and  will  hold  them,  to  a  strict  personal 
account  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. " 

His  pastor,  Dr.  Gurley,  said  that  the  reports  as 
to  the  infidelity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  have  been 
true  of  him  while  at  Washington,  because  he  had 
frequent  conversations  with  the  President  on  these 
subjects,  and  knew  him  to  be  in  accord  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  Christian  religion. 
He  further  declared  that,  in  the  latter  days  of  his 
chastened  life,  after  the  death  of  his  son  Willie,  and 
his  visit  to  the  battle  field  of  Gettysburg,  he  said, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  he  had  lost  confidence 
in  everything  but  God,  that  he  believed  his  heart 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-six 

was  changed,  that  he  loved  the  Saviour,  and  that 
if  he  was  not  deceived  in  himself,  it  was  his  inten 
tion  soon  to  make  a  profession  of  religion. 

I  cannot  more  fittingly  close  this  address  than 
by  quoting  a  portion  of  the  remarks  made  by  the 
late  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  John  Hay,  as  he 
stood  beside  President  Roosevelt  in  the  Lincoln  pew 
in  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  church  at 
Washington,  on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
that  church,  November  16,  1903: 

"  Whatever  is  remembered  or  whatever  lost,  we 
ought  never  to  forget  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  one 
of  the  mightiest  masters  of  statecraft  that  history 
has  known,  was  also  one  of  the  most  devoted  and 
faithful  servants  of  Almighty  God  who  has  ever 
sat  in  the  high  places  of  the  world.  From  that 
dim  and  chilly  dawn,  when,  standing  on  a  railway 
platform  in  Springfield,  half  veiled  by  falling  snow- 
flakes,  from  the  crowd  of  friends  and  neighbors  who 
had  gathered  to  wish  him  Godspeed  on  his  momen 
tous  journey,  he  acknowledged  his  dependence  on 
God,  and  asked  for  their  prayers,  to  that  sorrowful 
yet  triumphant  hour  when  he  went  to  his  account, 
he  repeated  over  and  over  in  every  form  of  speech, 
his  faith  and  trust  in  that  Almighty  Power  who 


Page  one  hundred  fifty-seven 

rules  the  fate  of  men  and  nations  *  *  *  I 
will  ask  you  to  listen  to  a  few  sentences  in  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  admits  us  into  the  most  secret  recesses 
of  his  soul.  It  is  a  meditation  written  in  September 
1862.  Perplexed  and  afflicted  beyond  the  power 
of  human  help,  by  the  disasters  of  war,  the  wrang 
ling  of  parties,  and  the  inexorable  and  constraining 
logic  of  his  own  mind,  he  shut  out  the  world  one 
day,  and  tried  to  put  into  form  his  double  sense  of 
responsibility  to  human  duty  and  Divine  power; 
and  this  was  the  result.  It  shows  awful  sincerity 
of  a  perfectly  honest  soul  trying  to  bring  itself  into 
closer  communion  with  his  Maker. 

"The  will  of  God  prevails.  In  great  contests 
each  party  claims  to  act  in  accordance  with  the 
will  of  God.  Both  may  be  and  one  must  be  wrong. 
God  cannot  be  for  and  against  the  same  thing  at  the 
same  time.  In  the  present  civil  war  it  is  quite 
possible  that  God's  purpose  is  something  different 
from  the  purpose  of  either  party;  and  yet  the  hu 
man  instrumentalities,  working  just  as  they  do,  are 
of  the  best  adaptation  to  effect  His  purpose.  I  am 
almost  ready  to  say  that  this  is  probably  true;  that 
God  wills  this  contest,  and  wills  that  it  shall  not 
end  yet.  By  His  mere  great  power  on  the  minds 


Page  one  "hundred  fifty-eight 

of  the  now  contestants,  He  could  have  either  saved 
or  destroyed  the  Union  without  a  human  contest. 
Yet  the  contest  began,  and  having  begun,  He  could 
give  the  final  victory  to  either  side  any  day.  Yet 
the  contest  proceeds. " 


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AT  THE  COURT  HOUSE 

Early  in  the  morning  the  veterans  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  Stephenson  Post  No.  30, 
planted  an  elm  tree  in  the  court  house  square  dedi 
cated  to  the  memory  of  Lincoln  which  they  named, 
"The  Lincoln  Grand  Army  Elm." 

At  9  a.  m.  exercises  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 
were  held,  at  the  court  house,  for  the  dedication  of 
a  bronze  tablet  to  mark  the  site  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
first  law  office  in  Springfield.  The  leading  features 
of  this  meeting  were  the  addresses  of  Judges  Cart- 
wright  and  Creighton,  which  follow,  together  with 
introductory  remarks  of  Col.  Charles  F.  Mills,  who 
presided  at  the  meeting.  The  tablet  referred  to  is 
inscribed  as  follows: 


Page  one  "hundred  sixty 


Site  of 

First 

LAW  OFFICE 

of 

A.  LINCOLN 

1837—1839 

Springfield  Chapter 

Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution, 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-one 


MAJOR  JOHN  W.  BLACK 

Report  of  Memorial  Tablet  Committee 

The  undersigned  committee  of  the  Springfield 
chapter  of  the  Illinois  society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  to  whom  was  assigned  the 
duty  of  providing  and  placing  a  memorial  tablet 
for  marking  the  site  of  the  first  law  office  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  desire  to  report  that  a  suitable  bronze 
tablet  has  been  secured  and  placed  in  position  at 
109  North  Fifth  street,  Springfield,  111. 

The  committee  beg  leave  to  present  in  this  con 
nection  some  information  concerning  the  location 
of  the  three  law  offices  occupied  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
Springfield. 

Mr.  Lincoln ;s  first  law  partnership  was  with 
Major  John  T.  Stuart,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Stuart  &  Lincoln,  and  their  office  was  in  Hoffman's 
row  on  the  west  side  of  Fifth  street,  between 
Washington  and  Jefferson  streets,  and  the  site 
of  this  building  is  now  109  North  Fifth  street, 
where  the  tablet  has  been  placed. 

-11  L  C 


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The  building  was  erected  in  1835  by  Herman  L. 
Hoffman  and  was  one  of  a  row  of  four  brick  build 
ings  of  two  stories,  and  when  built  was  the  most 
imposing  structure  in  the  city. 

The  second  floor  was  used  by  Stuart  and  Lincoln 
as  a  law  office  in  1837,  1838  and  1839. 

When  the  state  capital  was  removed  from  Van- 
dalia  to  Springfield  in  the  winter  of  1836,  the  old 
county  court  house  that  stood  in  the  public  square 
was  torn  down  to  make  room  for  the  new  capitol 
building,  now  known  as  the  Sangamon  county 
building.  The  ground  floor  of  the  Hoffman  row 
was  used  for  the  Sangamon  county  court  for  a 
term  of  four  years. 

After  the  election  of  Major  John  T.  Stuart  to 
Congress,  in  1838,  Mr.  Lincoln  formed  a  partner 
ship  with  Stephen  T.  Logan,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Logan  &  Lincoln,  and  occupied  an  office  on  the 
third  floor  of  the  old  Farmers'  National  bank 
building  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Adams  streets. 

The  United  States  court  over  which  Judge 
Nathaniel  Pope  then  presided  as  district  judge 
occupied  the  second  floor  of  said  building. 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-three 

The  firm  of  Logan  &  Lincoln  was  dissolved  in 
1843  and  Mr.  Lincoln  then  formed  a  partnership 
with  William  F.  Herndon,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Lincoln  &  Herndon,  and  occupied  offices  on  the 
second  floor  over  the  store  of  John  Irwin,  103 
South  Fifth  street,  which  is  now  the  south  half  of 
the  Myers  Brothers'  clothing  store. 

The  partnership  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon  continued 
during  Mr.  Lincoln's  term  of  office  as  President  and 
was  only  dissolved  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
April  15,  1865. 


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COL.   CHARLES  F.  MILLS 

Introducing  Judge  Cartwright 

The  Springfield  chapter  of  the  Illinois  society  of 
the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  has  the  honor 
of  having  been  the  first  to  be  organized  in  this  state. 

It  seems  fitting  that  the  opening  exercises  of  the 
Centennial  Memorial  Day  should  be  held  by  this 
patriotic  organization  in  the  building  where  our 
citizens  and  the  nation  paid  its  final  respect  to  the 
remains  of  our  beloved  townsman. 

We  are  assembled  this  morning  as  friends  and 
associates  to  renew  and  perpetuate  the  memories 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  he  was  best  known  in  Springfield 
as  a  lawyer  and  as  a  citizen. 

A  distinguished  representative  of  the  Supreme 
Court  will  present  the  character  of  Lincoln  as  a 
lawyer,  and  a  most  worthy  judge  and  our  fellow 
townsman  will  speak  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  citizen. 

It  is  a  great  privilege  for  the  Springfield  Chapter 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  to  present 


Page  one  "hundred  sixty-five 

Hon.  James  H.  Cartwright,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  who  will  speak  of  Lincoln 
the  Lawyer. 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-six 


JUDGE  CARTWRIGHT 

Lincoln,  the  Lawyer 

At  the  memorial  services  held  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  this  state  soon  after  the  death  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  resolutions  of  the  bar  expressive  of  the 
great  loss  to  the  profession,  were  presented  by  John 
D.  Caton,  a  former  Chief  Justice  of  the  court;  and 
in  adding  his  words  of  appreciation  he  said  that 
the  pleasing  task  of  speaking  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the 
chosen  ruler  of  the  nation  must  be  left  to  others; 
and  while  peers  sang  his  praises  and  orators  pro 
claimed  his  greatness  as  a  public  man,  it  was  be 
coming  that  his  professional  brethren  should  speak 
of  him  as  a  lawyer.  Mr.  Justice  Breese  in  respond 
ing  for  the  court  echoed  the  sentiment.  The  years 
that  have  passed  since  that  time  have  not  dimmed 
the  fame  of  the  great  President,  but  have  added 
the  love,  respect  and  admiration  of  the  southern 
people,  then  embittered  by  the  war  which  had 
destroyed  their  industrial  system,  set  aside  their 
social  order,  and  wrought  devastation  among  them. 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-seven 

That  people  have  long  since  recognized  that  he  was 
their  best  and  truest  friend ;  and  today  North  and 
South  hold  in  the  same  high  esteem  the  man  of 
humble  birth,  noble  life  and  tragic  death.  The 
people  today  are  listening  to  orators  who  recount 
the  events  of  his  life,  extol  his  virtues  and  proclaim 
his  greatness  in  the  high  office  which  he  filled;  and 
again  it  may  be  said  that  it  becomes  us  who  are 
members  of  the  profession  which  he  practiced  dur 
ing  nearly  all  the  years  of  his  manhood  to  speak  of 
him  as  Lincoln  the  lawyer. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  he  was  a  member  of  the 
bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  for  about  a  quarter 
of  a  century  he  was  engaged  in  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession  in  that  court  and  the  trial  court. 
He  had  a  natural  love  of  justice  and  it  was  his 
early  ambition  to  be  a  lawyer.  That  ambition  was 
realized  by  perseverance  in  the  face  of  poverty  and 
many  difficulties.  His  devotion  to  the  law  and 
reverence  for  its  principles,  at  that  time,  were  illus 
trated  by  an  address  delivered  at  Springfield,  in 
1837,  in  which  he  exhorted  his  hearers  never  to 
violate,  in  the  least  particular,  the  laws  of  the 
country  and  never  to  tolerate  their  violation  by 
others.  He  believed  that  respe  ct  for  the  law  should 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-eight 

be  inculcated  among  the  people,  and  said  "Let 
reverence  for  the  law  be  breathed  by  every  Amer 
ican  mother  to  the  lisping  babe  that  prattles  on 
her  lap.  Let  it  be  written  in  primers,  spelling 
books  and  almanacs.  Let  it  be  preached  from  the 
pulpit,  proclaimed  in  legislative  halls  and  enforced 
in  courts  of  justice.  In  short,  let  it  become  the 
political  religion  of  the  United  States." 

Law  books  were  then  few  in  number  but  they 
contained  the  fundamental  rules  under  which  jus 
tice  has  been  and  is  administered.  Practically  his 
whole  education  derived  from  books  was  acquired 
in  the  study  of  the  law  and  that  study  moulded  his 
intellect  and  character  and  gave  color  to  all  his 
thoughts.  He  learned  the  principles  of  the  law  and 
his  great  common  sense  enabled  him  to  apply  them 
to  different  conditions.  His  ability,  integrity  and 
devotion  to  law  and  justice  soon  won  for  him  an 
exalted  position  at  the  bar.  To  have  succeeded  in 
an  unworthy  cause  would  have  given  him  neither 
pleasure  nor  pride,  and  his  success  was  founded, 
not  upon  tricks  and  devices  to  defeat  the  law,  but 
in  truth  and  honesty  in  upholding  the  law  as  he 
understood  it. 


Page  one  hundred  sixty-nine 

He  was  lured  from  the  practice  of  law  to  political 
life  for  a  short  time,  but  left  Congress  in  much  dis 
satisfaction  to  resume  the  profession  which  he 
loved.  In  the  friendly  contests  of  the  bar  he  met 
men  of  great  ability  and  learning  who  called  forth 
his  greatest  efforts;  and  it  was  these  contests  that 
developed  his  growing  powers.  When  he  was  again 
summoned  to  the  political  field  by  what  he  believed 
to  be  a  great  wrong,  he  stepped  into  the  arena  fully 
equipped  by  experience  at  the  bar  to  meet  and 
overthrow  his  great  antagonist.  Victor  in  that 
contest,  although  lacking  the  rewards  of  victory, 
he  returned  to  the  law  office  in  Springfield  and  to 
the  practice  of  the  law.  From  that  office  he  went 
directly  to  the  highest  position  in  the  nation  and 
assumed  the  greatest  burdens  ever  laid  upon  the 
shoulders  of  an  American  citizen.  He  had  then 
received  an  education  at  the  bar  such  as  no  uni 
versity  could  have  given  him. 

He  looked  upon  the  crisis  which  confronted  the 
nation  with  the  eye  and  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
lawyer.  His  first  inaugural  address  which  closed 
with  the  oft-quoted  and  touching  appeal  to  his 
dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen  was,  in  its  sub 
stance,  a  legal  argument.  He  said  that  he  had  no 


Page  one  "hundred  seventy 

lawful  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  states 
where  it  existed,  and  having  no  such  right  he  had 
no  inclination  to  do  so.  He  recalled  the  resolution 
of  the  platform  on  which  he  had  been  a  candidate 
denouncing  lawless  invasion  of  state  or  territory 
and  declared  for  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of 
the  states.  He  quoted  the  provisions  of  the  con 
stitution  as  to  the  delivery  of  persons  held  to  ser 
vice  or  labor  in  one  state  and  escaping  to  another, 
and  applied  the  maxim  of  the  law :  "  The  intention 
of  the  law-giver  is  the  law. "  He  did  not  give  his 
approval  to  those  who  refused  obedience  to  laws 
enacted  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution  whether 
animated  by  hatred  of  what  he  regarded  as  a  great 
wrong  and  injustice  or  not. 

He  argued  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  compact 
between  the  states  both  in  contemplation  of  uni 
versal  law  and  the  law  of  contract.  It  was  the 
unanswerable  argument  of  a  lawyer.  He  believed 
in  the  justice  of  the  people  and  asked,  "  Why  should 
there  not  be  confidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of 
the  people?  Is  there  any  other  or  equal  hope  in 
the  world?" 

With  the  warmest  and  kindliest  human  sympa 
thy  he  combined  an  unyielding  adherence  to  right 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-one 

and  justice;  and  in  his  habit  of  thought,  remained 
a  lawyer  to  the  end.  After  four  years  when  he 
realized  that  the  decision  of  the  issue  might  rest 
with  the  Judge  of  all  the  Earth  and  that  the  judg 
ment  might  be  that  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the 
bondsman 's  250  years  of  unrequited  toil  should  be 
sunk,  and  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
should  be  paid  with  another  drawn  with  the  sword, 
yet  he  could  humbly  say:  "The  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether. " 

You  have  determined  to  commemorate  the  life 
and  character  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer  and  have 
designed  this  tablet  to  be  placed  at  the  site  of  his 
first  law  office.  It  will  be  a  perpetual  memorial 
and  belongs  to  a  class  which  the  law  regards  as 
public  benefactions  on  account  of  their  tendencies 
and  the  lessons  which  they  teach.  Like  the  build 
ing  of  churches  which  inclines  the  hearts  of  the 
people  to  morality  and  religion,  the  founding  of 
seats  of  learning  for  education,  and  the  establish 
ment  of  public  hospitals,  so  the  statue,  the  monu 
ment  and  the  memorial  to  commemorate  a  great 
and  worthy  life  and  example  serve  the  highest  pub 
lic  good  by  the  inspiration  which  they  give  to 
emulate  the  life  and  imitate  the  example. 


Page  one  'hundred  seventy-two 

This  tablet  will  be  a  constant  reminder  of  the 
great  lawyer  and  President  and  of  the  qualities 
which  endeared  him  to  the  people  and  have  made 
his  name  immortal.  It  will  deliver  its  voiceless  but 
potent  message  to  the  mind  and  heart,  not  alone 
on  this  day  set  apart  for  celebrating  the  goodness 
and  greatness  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  from  hour  to 
hour  and  day  to  day  in  the  coming  years.  The 
message  and  the  lesson  will  not  be  alone  for  the 
student  of  history,  the  philosopher,  the  statesman 
or  for  those  who  gather  today  to  listen  to  their 
wisdom,  but  also  to  every  passer-by.  It  will  in 
spire  the  boy  as  his  mind  and  character  unfold  and 
develop  from  day  to  day,  and  inspire  him  with 
higher  ideals  of  life  and  of  the  responsibilities  of  a 
citizen.  It  will  teach  its  lesson  to  the  laboring  man 
who  toils  for  the  support  of  himself  and  family  and 
to  all  common  people  into  whose  rank  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  born  and  from  whom  he  never  permitted  him 
self  to  be  separated  by  place  or  power.  It  will 
stimulate  patriotism  in  all  and  teach  the  lesson  that 
those  things  which  truly  exalt  an  individual  are  the 
old  fashioned  and  homely  virtues  of  honesty,  truth 
and  integrity.  By  its  silent  influence  it  will  lead  to 
emulation  of  the  character,  the  simple  virtues,  the 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-three 

kind  heart,  obedience  to  the  spirit  of  the  law  of  the 
great  lawyer  and  the  great  President  whom  it  com 
memorates. 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-four 


COLONEL  MILLS 

* " 

Introducing  Judge  Creighton 

This  occasion  is  graced  with  the  presence  of  and 
participation  of  a  gentleman  who  succeeded  to  the 
law  business  of  Mr.  Lincoln  whose  associates  and 
successors  were  as  follows:  Stuart  and  Lincoln; 
Logan  and  Lincoln;  Herndon  and  Lincoln;  Herndon 
and  Zane;  Herndon  and  Orendorff;  Orendorff  and 
Creighton. 

I  have  now  the  honor  of  presenting  our  most 
worthy  townsman,  who  has  graced  the  bench  of 
our  county  and  circuit  courts  longer  than  any  of 
his  predecessors,  Judge  James  A.  Creighton. 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-five 


JUDGE  CKEIGHTON 

Lincoln,  the  Citizen 

MR.  PRESIDENT — I  thank  you  and,  through  you 
and  the  committee,  I  thank  all  the  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  for  the 
honor  conferred  upon  me  by  placing  my  name  on 
the  program  for  this  occasion. 

The  announcement  made  by  your  president  sug 
gests  to  my  mind  that  but  for  the  fact  that  the 
venerable  Judge  Zane,  so  respected  and  so  loved 
by  all,  is  unable  by  reason  of  the  weight  of  years 
to  make  the  long  journey  from  his  present  home 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  the  place  assigned  to  me  would 
have  been  assigned  to  him;  and  after  Judge  Zane 
our  distinguished  fellow-citizen,  General  Orendorff, 
would  have  received  this  honor  but  for  the  fact 
that  he  is  confined  to  his  home  by  severe  illness. 

Concerning  the  subject  assigned  I  want  to  make 
this  statement :  "  Lincoln,  the  Citizen, "  comprises 
all  there  was  of  Lincoln — all  his  life,  all  his  labors, 
all  his  achievements.  It  is  apparent  that  no  dis- 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-six 

cussion  in  detail  within  the  time  here  allotted  to 
this  subject  could  greatly  enlighten  or  entertain  an 
audience  composed  almost  wholly  of  Springfield 
citizens  at  so  early  an  hour  upon  a  day  so  filled 
with  world-wide  interesting  exercises  as  our  pro 
gram  for  this  day  discloses.  No  one  can  recognize 
this  more  than  I.  I  shall  detain  you  but  a  short 
time  and  hope  to  keep  within  the  limit  of  time 
allotted  me. 

This  occasion  is  an  epoch-marking  occasion — 
the  celebration  of  the  centennial  of  the  birth  of 
Lincoln  in  the  city  where  he  spent  substantially, 
all  of  his  mature  life  and  in  the  very  shadow  of  the 
monument  that  marks  his  resting  place.  More 
than  a  year  ago  a  number  of  patriotic  Lincoln- 
loving  Springfield  citizens  begun  to  plan  a  Lincoln 
centennial  celebration  that  should  be  something 
more  than  local — a  celebration  that  should  be 
State-wide,  Nation-wide,  World-wide  in  its  scope. 
They  procured  the  Congress  to  make  Lincoln's 
birthday  a  national  holiday;  they  procured  the 
General  Assembly  to  create  a  commission  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  celebration  and  they  organ 
ized  and  incorporated  the  Lincoln  Centennial  as 
sociation.  This  association  is  a  perpetual  associa- 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-seven 

tion  and  now  consists  of  five  hundred  and  ten  life 
members.  Its  purpose  is  to  be  an  immortal  guard 
of  honor  to  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  To 
day  in  every  state  of  this  Union  of  States,  in  every 
country  upon  which  the  sun  shines,  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Lincoln  is  being  cele 
brated  and  in  every  language  that  has  a  literature. 

I  remember  when  I  was  a  boy  at  school  I  was 
assigned  to  compose  and  deliver  an  oration  on 
Abraham  Lincoln.  While  Judge  Cartwright  was 
speaking  the  opening  sentence  of  that  oration  re 
curred  to  my  mind :  "  If  the  question  were  to  be 
asked  '  What  one  man  has  engrossed  the  attention 
of  the  civilized  world  above  all  others  for  the  last 
seven  years?'  the  answer  must  be  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  "  And  today  if  the  question  were  to  be  asked, 
"  What  one  character  is  engrossing  the  attention  of 
the  civilized  world  above  that  of  all  others  ?"  the 
answer  still  must  be  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

I  never  personally  knew  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  trag 
edy  of  his  death  occurred  when  I  was  yet  a  boy. 
But  the  name  of  Lincoln  was  a  household  word  in 
my  father's  home  from  my  earliest  recollection. 
I  shall  not  go  into  all  the  interesting  history  of  why 

—12  L  C 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-eight 

that  was  so.  I  shall  simply  state  a  few  conclusions 
and  take  it  for  granted  that  a  Springfield  audience 
knows  all  the  evidentiary  facts. 

Soon  after  I  came  to  full  manhood  I  became  a 
citizen  of  Springfield.  I  came  here  with  a  mind 
and  heart  hungry  for  every  scrap  of  truth  that  I 
could  glean  concerning  any  feature  of  his  life.  It 
was  my  good  fortune  to  know  Major  Stuart,  his 
preceptor  and  first  law-partner;  Judge  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  his  second  law-partner  and,  in  a  sense,  a 
preceptor  after  the  lines  of  whose  mind  Lincoln 
trained  his  own  to  think;  William  H.  Herndon,  his 
partner  for  the  seventeen  years  that  preceded  his 
election  to  the  Presidency  and  his  nominal  partner 
during  all  the  years  he  held  that  office;  Hon.  Ninian 
Edwards,  in  whose  house  Lincoln  wooed  and  won 
and  wedded;  Captain  Kidd,  the  crier  of  the  court, 
who  remembered  more  of  the  stories  that  Lincoln 
actually  did  tell  than  any  other  man;  Judge  Ben 
jamin  F.  Edwards,  James  C.  Conkling,  Judge  James 
H.  Matheny,  Judge  S.  H.  Treat,  Milton  Hay,  Gov 
ernor  Palmer,  General  McClernand,  Col.  John 
Williams,  George  Black  and  many  more  who  have 
since  gone  home — whose  names  will  readily  occur 
to  all  of  you  as  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  All 


Page  one  hundred  seventy-nine 

these  and  many  others  throughout  the  city  and 
country  were  my  personal  friends  with  whom  I  was 
on  social  terms  and,  with  respect  to  all  that  per 
tained  to  Lincoln,  I  think  on  intimate  and  confi 
dential  terms.  And  of  the  men  who  knew  Lincoln 
— these  still  living  in  this  community — I  have  had 
the  good  fortune  to  know  such  men  as  Dr.  William 
Jayne,  John  W.  Bunn,  Senator  Cullom,  Dr.  Pas- 
field,  Dr.  Converse,  Clinton  L.  Conkling,  Charles 
Ridgley,  and  many  others.  I  believe  I  have  come 
in  personal  contact  with  almost  every  man  that  has 
lived  in  this  city  or  this  county  since  my  coming 
here  who  really  ever  had  any  personal  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Lincoln  and  have  talked  with  them  about 
him  by  the  hour,  by  the  day — in  the  aggregate  I 
believe  I  might  say — by  the  year.  I  have  gathered 
every  scrap  of  available  information  bearing  upon 
every  feature  and  act  of  his  life;  and  the  consensus 
of  it  all  is  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  in  very  truth, 
in  all  the  petty  details  of  private  life  as  well  as  in 
his  public  career,  a  Model  Citizen.  He  was  in  every 
respect  and  in  every  true  sense  of  the  word  a  moral 
man;  he  was  diligent  and  painstaking  in  business; 
he  was  honest;  he  was  kind;  he  was  loyal  to  his 
friends  without  taint  of  selfishness;  he  was  just, 


Page  one  hundred  eighty 

I  was  about  to  say,  to  his  enemies — I  will  say,  to 
his  adversaries — Lincoln  had  no  personal  enemies 
and  he  was  absolutely  devoid  of  malice.  I  have 
never  heard  a  syllable  from  any  person  evidencing 
a  single  instance  in  the  life  of  Lincoln  where  he 
harbored  the  least  malice.  He,  a  few  times,  was 
observed  to  become  intensely  angry  when  his  mo 
tives  were  impugned  and  he  was  not  always  able 
to  restrain  himself  from  all  exhibition  of  anger;  but 
when  the  heat  of  passion  had  subsided,  as  it  always 
soon  did,  there  remained  no  trace  of  malice.  He  had 
provocation.  He  was  slighted  by  men  who  ought 
to  have  been  too  just  to  slight  him;  he  was  snubbed 
by  men  who  ought  to  have  been  too  great  to  snub 
him;  he  was  betrayed  by  men  who  ought  to  have 
been  too  loyal  to  betray  him;  he  had  provocation 
that  would  have  caused  the  iron  to  enter  the  soul 
of  almost  any  less  perfect  than  the  Son  of  Man. 
You  all  recall  some  of  these  instances  and  you  know 
how  free  from  malice  his  subsequent  conduct 
proved  him  to  be. 

He  believed  in  the  Great  Jehovah  and  in  the 
eternal  principles  of  truth  and  justice  and  he  acted 
up  to  the  full  measure  of  his  belief,  every  day  of 
his  life — in  the  smallest  and  most  trivial  transaction 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-one 

as  well  as  in  the  greatest.  I  wish  to  repeat  that 
he  was,  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  at  every  stage 
of  his  life,  in  very  truth  a  Model  Citizen.  I  know 
how  impotent  and  empty  mere  adjective  eulogy  is 
— how  little  it  really  means  to  say  of  a  man  that 
he  was  honest,  good,  great,  wise,  unselfish,  devoid 
of  malice  and  the  like  to  this  end — mere  adjective 
laudation.  But  in  this  case,  the  case  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  evidence  which  I  have  not  recounted 
in  detail  is  known  to  you  all;  and  to  say  these 
things  (and  many  more  that  might  be  said  of  him) 
does  mean  something  to  you.  The  people  of 
Springfield,  his  neighbors  in  the  country  villages, 
knew  Lincoln's  worth  and  valued  it  before  he  was 
discovered  to  the  Nation  and  the  world. 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-two 


AT  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL 

The  High  School  meeting  held  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  llth  was  attended  by  the  faculty  and  stu 
dents  of  the  Springfield  High  School,  Principal  L. 
M.  Castle  presiding.  The  leading  feature  of  this 
event  was  the  address  of  General  John  W.  Noble, 
of  St.  Louis,  who  served  with  distinction  as  a  gen 
eral  of  the  Civil  War  and  later  served  as  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  under  President  Harrison.  His  ad 
dress  follows. 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-three 


GENERAL  NOBLE 

The  Relation  of  Springfield  to  Lincoln  and  the 

Character  of  the  United  States  as 

Impersonated  in  Lincoln 

LADIES,  GENTLEMEN,  AND  PUPILS  OF  THE  HIGH 
SCHOOL — I  have  but  little  claim  to  come  here  on 
the  centennial  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  birth,  to  speak 
regarding  him.  His  praise  has  been  spoken  for 
almost  a  half  a  century,  by  the  most  eminent  men, 
not  only  in  our  own  country  but  others,  and  his 
deeds  have  become  a  part  of  the  history,  not  only 
of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  best  chapters  of 
all  history  that  relates  to  mankind. 

I  have  put  on  my  breast  today,  not  through  any 
egotism,  the  only  claim  I  have  to  be  here,  the  badge 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  I  was  a  soldier 
for  four  years — one  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  Union 
soldiers.  I  served  in  my  own  regiment,  for  those 
four  years,  with  men  who  knew  him.  I  knew  him. 
I  served  with  men  that  knew  that  whatever  might 
happen,  in  death,  in  carnage,  in  victory  or  defeat, 


Page  one  hundred,  eighty-four 

in  advance  or  retreat,  whether  this  or  that  general 
was  good  or  bad,  or  that  movement  was  successful 
or  unsuccessful,  there  was  above  us  all  one  heart, 
one  man,  that  was  the  friend  of  us  all,  that  wanted 
our  success  as  he  wanted  to  live,  himself,  that  that 
success  might  be  for  the  benefit  of  his  country  and 
the  world,  that  loved  the  soldiers  and  whom  the 
soldiers  loved,  Abraham  Lincoln! 

And  in  that  sympathy  of  feeling,  born  of  those 
four  years,  I,  when  asked  by  your  superintendent 
to  come  here,  felt  that  I  might  come.  I  might 
speak  a  word  in  Springfield,  not  in  addition  of 
praise — Lincoln  needs  no  praise  from  me;  not  to 
add  anything  to  history — it  has  all  been  written; 
but  before  you  young  men  and  women  (some  of 
whom  are  almost  as  old  as  the  boys  that  went  with 
me  into  the  army  in  '61,  and  girls  like  those  we 
left  behind  us  when  we  went  into  the  army,  daugh 
ters  yourselves,  and  sons,  of  the  very  soldiers,  or 
the  grandchildren  of  the  very  soldiers  of  whom  I 
have  spoken)  I  might  say  a  word  here  at  Springfield 
that  would  be  worth  your  while  to  hear. 

Springfield !  The  center,  the  capital,  of  this  great 
State  of  Illinois!  The  song  that  has  just  been  sung 
has  touched  my  heart  deeply.  "  Illinois !  Illinois ! " 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-five 

The  refrain  bears  with  it  memories  of  mine  from 
old.  I  have  almost  always  lived,  not  in  Illinois, 
but  on  the  border  of  Illinois,  and  coming  here  to 
speak  of  this  great  man,  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  am 
touched  when  I  reflect  how  sweet  those  words 
would  be,  were  he  today  to  hear  them.  For  if  a 
man  ever  lived  who  appreciated  and  was  grateful 
for  the  support,  the  kindness,  the  aid  of  a  people, 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  towards  the  people  of  Illi 
nois,  and  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  most,  those  of 
Springfield. 

How  did  he  come  to  Springfield?  You  remem 
ber.  On  a  borrowed  horse,  with  a  pair  of  saddle 
bags  that  contained  all  his  earthly  goods,  how  he 
left  his  father  on  the  farm  where  he  had  hewed  the 
rails  to  inclose  a  few  acres,  and  arriving  at  the 
store  of  Mr.  Speed,  dismounted  and  talked  to  him, 
and  said,  "I  have  come  to  Springfield  to  live," 
and  Speed  says,  "What  are  you  going  to  do?" 
"  Well, "  he  said,  "  I  want  you  to  go  over  with  me  to 
the  boarding  house,  and  if  this  experiment  of  being 
a  lawyer  is  successful,  I  can  pay  my  board,  and  if 
it  is  not  they  will  have  to  wait  until  I  can  earn  it 
some  other  way,  I  think. "  And  Speed  said,  "Well, 
Lincoln,  I  have  a  double  bed  up  stairs,  go  up  and 


Page  one  "hundred  eighty-six 

stay  with  me,  and  I  will  go  over  with  you  and  we 
will  arrange  about  your  boarding  there.  It  is  a 
double  bed  and  we  can  both  sleep  in  the  same  bed.7 ' 
Lincoln  said  no  more.  He  took  the  saddle  bags 
upstairs  and  then  he  came  down  and  said,  "Well, 
Speed,  I  Ve  moved ! "  He  had  come  to  Springfield. 

Now,  who  was  this  man?  What  had  he  done? 
What  attainments  had  he  acquired?  A  poor  boy, 
whose  bare  feet  had  trod  the  earth  from  Kentucky 
to  Indiana,  and  who,  as  he  had  grown  up,  con 
ducted  his  own  family  and  helped  move  to  Illinois, 
and  had  learned  the  rudiments  of  an  education 
hard  and  more  or  less  imperfectly  but  had  attained 
at  least  to  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  Eng 
lish  law  and  English  literature  to  have  read  the 
Life  of  Washington,  and  the  Bible,  the  statutes 
of  Indiana,  and  some  law  books,  enough  to  claim 
to  be  a  lawyer! 

What  and  how  did  he  leave  Springfield,  and 
when?  He  left  Springfield  the  best  equipped, 
mentally,  morally  and  as  a  statesman,  of  any  man 
that  has  ever  lived  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  or  I  may 
say  in  the  United  States. 

How  did  he  acquire  it?  You  know  it  is  a  fact 
that  things  that  last  long  grow  slowly.  The  great 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-aeven 

productions  of  the  world  are  those  that  mature  in 
long  periods  of  time.  He  grew  slowly.  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  no  great  genius.  He  did  not  spring 
up  and  startle  the  world  any  more  than  you  would 
do.  There  is  nothing  in  your  condition  today,  my 
young  friends,  that  is  not  superior  in  all  that  you 
have,  in  the  way  of  intellectual  equipment,  to  what 
Abraham  Lincoln  had,  and  you  have  before  you 
the  same  opportunities  that  he  had.  There  is  not 
a  boy  nor  a  girl  within  the  sound  of  my  voice  that 
has  not  all  that  goes  to  illuminate  the  mind,  and 
more  than  he  had;  but  there  is  something  else. 
There  is  character. 

What  is  character?  Tell  me  that.  It  is  the 
combination  of  qualities  that  goes  to  make  a  man — 
a  good  man,  or  a  bad  man.  It  is  the  combination, 
and  what  is  the  quality?  You  say,  "A  combina 
tion  of  qualities, "  what  is  the  quality?  A  quality 
is  that  which  distinguishes  one  subject  from 
another.  Wood  has  a  quality.  Iron  has  another 
quality.  A  man  has  a  quality  of  integrity.  Another 
man  has  a  quality  of  malice. 

Where  the  character  is  involved,  everything  is 
at  stake,  either  for  good  or  bad,  and  this  man  that 
came  thus  poorly  equipped  to  Springfield  had  a 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-eight 

character;  and  that  character  was  born  of  the  study 
at  his  mother's  knee  with  the  Bible,  a  study  of  the 
Life  of  Washington  and  his  Farewell  Address,  a 
study  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  men  who  had  navigated  the  great  ship 
of  state  from  the  days  when  Washington  was  Presi 
dent  down  to  the  time  he  came  to  Springfield. 

It  was  not  an  exhaustive  study,  nor  need  yours 
be.  If  you  have  the  character  in  which  you  will 
imbed  that  knowledge,  then  you  will  so  far  be  like 
Lincoln,  because  there  was  imbedded  there  that 
patriotism,  that  knowledge  of  the  institutions  of 
his  country  and  its  history,  that  led  him  on  to 
study,  to  debate,  to  take  up  the  questions  of  inter 
est  to  the  people  of  this  community  in  which  he 
lived,  to  the  state,  to  his  county.  Not  simply  to 
orate,  to  talk!  He  went  up  and  down  these  streets 
we  walk  today.  He  stood  in  that  public  square. 
He  had  his  office  at  the  corner  of  it.  He  met  his 
fellows  in  every  direction.  He  knew  the  children 
of  Springfield.  There  never  was  a  time  when  Lin 
coln  passed  along  the  street,  and  a  boy  or  girl  spoke 
to  him  that  he  did  not  at  once  stop  and  speak,  to 
ask  the  name,  and  if  he  knew  father  or  mother  to 
speak  of  them,  with  a  smile  that  every  little  girl 


Page  one  hundred  eighty-nine 

and  boy  knew  was  the  index  of  a  kind  heart,  he 
either  took  them  in  his  arms,  or  walked  with  them 
until  they  found  it  necessary  to  go  and  leave  him. 
He  took  the  boys  of  this  town  out  to  the  Sangamon 
to  fish,  and  lay  upon  the  bank  while  they  enjoyed 
a  day  of  recreation.  That  man  who  had  a  family 
of  his  own,  whose  children  were  the  companions  of 
the  children  of  his  neighbors,  was  thinking  great 
thoughts.  He  was  studying  to  perfect  himself. 
When  he  had  become  a  member  of  Congress, 
through  the  favor  and  votes  of  this  community,  he 
had  studied  and  mastered,  as  he  says  himself,  the 
first  six  books  of  Euclid — geometry!  because  this 
man  was  seeking,  not  for  general  expansion  of 
knowledge,  not  something  to  talk  with,  something 
to  make  himself  illustrious  or  noted,  but  acquiring 
those  intellectual  instruments  and  tools  whereby 
he  could  demonstrate  the  truth  that  he  believed  ex 
isted,  just  as  in  Euclid  you  know  you  have  to  dem 
onstrate  by  accurate  and  successive  problems  and 
factors  the  center  of  truth.  Those  were  years  of 
study.  Those  were  years  of  development,  not  only 
of  the  man  but  of  the  soul.  Attachment  to  his 
country  was  growing  within  him.  The  Union! 
Illinois!  Illinois  was  far  away  from  Washington. 


Page  one  hundred  ninety 

The  Louisiana  Purchase,  across  the  Mississippi,  and 
ranging  off  to  the  Pacific,  had  been  acquired.  This 
great  republic  was  expanding  in  domain,  and  its 
interests  were  increasing  in  magnitude  from  year 
to  year,  and  no  man  in  all  the  multitudes  of  its 
people  saw  more  clearly  than  did  Abraham  Lincoln 
the  fact  that  we  were  coming  to  be  a  great  people; 
and  he  had  read  in  the  Farewell  Address  of  Wash 
ington  that  the  Union  was  the  Palladium  of  our 
liberty.  He  had  read  in  that  address  of  Washing 
ton  that  it  was  essential  to  the  public  safety  and 
happiness  that  that  Union  should  be  preserved. 

Abraham  Lincoln  never  forgot  those  lessons,  and 
as  he  grew,  and  these  questions  were  more  or  less 
discussed  in  the  legislature,  the  first  thing  that  he 
did  at  Vandalia,  when  the  State  had  a  tendency  to 
go  in  favor  of  slavery,  which  was  then  authorized 
by  law,  was  to  file  a  dissenting  protest  against  the 
vote.  He  and  Mr.  Story,  the  only  two  men,  said: 
"  In  our  judgment  slavery  is  both  an  act  of  injustice 
and  bad  policy. " 

How  did  he  acquire  that  concientiousness,  that 
audacity,  that  courage?  He  had  that  from  con 
tact  with  these  people  whom  he  met,  day  after  day, 
on  the  broad  wind-swept  prairies  where  freedom 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-one 

was  in  the  air;  and  he  had  seen  slavery  in  the  south. 
He  had  seen  a  yellow  girl  pinched  and  moved  about 
as  a  chattel,  whether  she  would  bring  more  or  less, 
and  he  had  said  to  himself,  "I  hate  that  thing !" 
"I  hate  that  thing!"  And  when  Illinois  was 
speaking  on  that  subject,  he  said  "  It  is  unjust  and 
it  is  impolitic."  He  was  studying  Euclid.  He 
was  studying  the  history  of  his  country.  He  was 
studying  the  politics  of  the  day.  He  was  talking 
with  his  neighbors  here  in  Springfield,  and  there 
was  a  law,  you  know,  whereby  slavery  had  been 
excluded  from  any  state  that  might  be  formed 
north  of  the  line  36°30",  which  is  the  southern 
boundary  of  Missouri  almost,  and  Missouri  is  my 
state  now. 

I  speak  not  invidiously.  I  am  not  raising  up 
old  fires.  I  am  talking  about  the  growth  of  a  great 
man;  and  unless  I  say  what  was  done,  and  why  it 
was  done,  it  is  useless  to  say  it.  That  line  having 
been  acted  upon,  and  Missouri  induced  into  the 
Union,  in  course  of  time  another  of  your  citizens, 
a  great  man  intellectually,  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
whom  your  fathers  and  grandfathers,  many  of  them, 
admired  very  much  and  stood  by,  was  instrumental 
in  having  that  line  removed  by  an  act  of  Congress, 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-two 

and  that  limitation,  which  was  the  term  of  the 
treaty  by  which  the  state  of  Missouri  had  come  into 
the  Union,  having  got  Missouri  in,  on  the  question 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  was  removed,  so  that 
slavery  might  not  be  confined  to  the  south  but 
could  come  north. 

There  followed  on  that  the  Dred  Scott  Decision 
which  held  substantially — I  will  not  go  into  that 
in  its  refinement — as  it  was  then  interpreted,  that 
the  institution  of  slavery  could  go  into  any  terri 
tory,  and,  indeed,  if  carried  to  its  limit,  any  state. 

Now  this  man,  here  in  Springfield,  who  had  been 
to  Congress  and  had  come  back,  who  had  offered 
in  Congress  a  bill  declaring  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  did 
not  receive  the  consideration  of  Congress,  who  had 
inscribed  that  early  paper  with  his  own  signature 
against  that  institution,  saw  his  country,  our  coun 
try,  about  to  be  invaded  with  this  thing  that  he  had 
called  unjust  and  impolitic.  He  put  on  his  intel 
lectual  armor.  He  stood  up  for  the  right,  and  he 
challenged  Mr.  Douglas  at  your  town.  He  de 
bated  with  him  from  city  to  city.  Twice  he  fol 
lowed  him  when  there  was  no  appointment,  and 
seven  times  he  followed  him  when  there  was  an 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-three 

appointment,  and  met  him  in  debate  upon  the 
right  of  slavery  to  be  national,  claiming  that  free 
dom  was  national  and  not  slavery,  and  that  it 
must  be  so  decided,  ultimately. 

He  did  not  resist  the  decision  that  had  been  made. 
He  did  not  endeavor  to  raise  any  insurrection,  but 
he  simply  demonstrated  to  his  fellow  citizens, 
when  he  was  in  the  forum,  that  the  right  thing  to 
do  was  to  support  freedom.  And  so  far  from  being 
led  to  anything  like  revolt,  he  seized  the  idea  of 
the  Union  as  he  had  studied  it  and  learned  it  from 
Washington,  as  the  central  fact,  that  the  Union 
must  be  preserved.  Even  if  he  were  elected  Pres 
ident,  no  matter  what  might  occur,  the  Union  of 
these  states  was  the  Palladium,  as  Washington  had 
said. 

"What!  Can  slavery  go  on?77  "Yes,"  he  an 
swered.  "  Shall  slavery  perish?  "  "  Yes  "  he  said, 
"if  necessary/'  and  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  he  went  forth  with  but  one  declaration 
before  the  people  of  our  country,  and  that  was  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  necessity  of 
the  Union. 

What  did  he  owe  to  Springfield  when  he  went 
there?  I  will  not  undertake,  myself,  to  repeat  what 

—13  L  C 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-four 

he  said.  I  will  read  it  to  you.  He  had  come  with 
Mr.  Speed  and  stayed  with  him,  and  grown  to  be 
this  man,  and  when  he  left  Springfield  to  be  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  he  said : 

"  To  this  place  (that  is,  Springfield,)  and  the 
kindness  of  this  people  I  owe  everything.  Here  I 
have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  have  passed 
from  a  young  to  an  old  man.  Here  my  children 
were  born  and  one  lies  buried.  I  leave  now,  not 
knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return.  With 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested 
on  the  shoulders  of  Washington,  without  the  aid 
of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  aided  him,  who 
controls  mine  and  our  destinies,  I  cannot  succeed. 
With  that  assistance  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in 
Him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain  with  you,  and 
be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope 
that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending 
you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend 
me,  I  bid  you,  friends  and  neighbors,  an  affection 
ate  farewell. " 

Every  heart,  on  this  day,  this  Centennial  of  the 
birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  should  be  warm  towards 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-five 

him  whose  name  should  be  exalted,  both  for  the 
judgment  of  his  counsels  and  for  the  glory  of  his 
name  to  Springfield. 

If  Lincoln  were  to  look  down  this  day  upon  this 
whole  bright  realm,  our  country,  could  his  eye  see, 
or  his  immortal  spirit  be  touched  by  our  sympathy, 
or  heart  be  moved  by  mortal  affection,  it  would  be 
upon  Springfield,  he  would  look  with  eyes  filled 
with  tears.  "  Illinois ! "  "  Illinois ! " 

Here  had  the  man  come,  from  rail  splitting,  with 
bare  feet  on  the  ground,  bringing  his  humble  equip 
ment,  on  the  borrowed  horse.  Here  he  had  dwelt 
for  25  years — "a  quarter  of  a  century"  as  he  said. 
Here  the  "something"  had  been  done,  in  the  devel 
opment  of  character. 

The  demand  that  slavery  should  be  national  and 
that  freedom  should  be  confined  to  a  particular 
section,  did  not  end  when  he  was  elected  President. 
He  had  advocated  freedom  for  the  nation.  He  had 
submitted  it  to  the  jury  of  his  countrymen  and 
the  verdict  had  been  in  his  favor.  The  judgment 
was  entered,  when  he  took  the  oath  of  office  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  that  this  Union 
should  not  be  dissolved.  But  it  is  one  thing  to 
render  judgment.  It  is  another  to  enforce  it.  Then 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-six 

came  the  execution  of  that  judgment.  "Shall  it 
be  so  or  shall  a  portion  of  those  that  ought  to  obey 
the  law  resist  it  successfully?  " 

I  don't  know  how  familiar  you  are  with  the  bat 
tles  of  the  war.  I  don't  know  whether  you  recog 
nize  how  many  men  died  to  make  that  verdict 
final  and  that  judgment  obeyed. 

Vicksburg,  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  The  Wilder 
ness,  Cold  Harbor,  Spottsylvania!  Each  one  of 
them  mounted  up  in  death  losses  to  tens  and  twen 
ties  of  thousands  killed  and  wounded.  That  had 
to  be  done  and  the  character  that  had  to  do  it  was 
the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  did  not  cease  in  his  war  for  the  Union.  He 
never  hesitated.  Judge  Usher,  who  was  his  Sec 
retary  of  the  Interior  a  portion  of  the  time,  says 
that  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war  there 
never  was  a  moment  that  Abraham  Lincoln  had 
the  least  doubt  about  the  successful  result  for  our 
country.  He  never  allowed  a  compromise  of  prin 
ciple. 

When,  after  his  election,  there  were  conferences 
whereby  they  could  accomodate  matters  so  that 
there  would  be  no  war,  he  wrote,  and  he  declared 
and  advised,  that  there  be  no  compromise.  "  What 


Page  one  "hundred  ninety-teten 

we  have  gained  for  freedom,  we  will  maintain. 
The  Union  must  be  preserved.  No  separation,  no 
disintegration,  of  this  great  government  of  ours. 
No  man  is  my  friend  who  wants,  now,  to  quit,  and 
give  up  what  we  have  gained,  for  the  reason  that 
it  will  all  have  to  be  done  over  again.  We  have 
won  for  the  Union.  If  we  give  up  it  will  have  to 
be  done  again.  Don't  do  it !  We  may  as  well  meet 
the  issue  now,  as  ever. " 

The  hosts  of  the  south  were,  at  the  beginning, 
successful.  I  have  no  hostility  in  my  heart  against 
the  southern  man,  now,  although  I  was  a  soldier, 
and  he  tried  to  kill  me  and  I  tried  to  put  him  out  of 
the  fight. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  in  England,  trying  to 
get  some  sympathy  for  the  United  States,  in  its 
great  fight,  and  told  them  we  were  going  to  be 
successful  that  they  better  land  on  our  side,  and 
it  would  be  better  just  on  those  principles,  whether 
they  were  in  favor  of  freedom  or  slavery.  They 
hooted  and  cried  out  against  him,  and  would  not 
listen.  Hoots  and  cat-calls  mingled  with  fife  and 
horn.  Finally,  a  man  called,  out  of  a  box,  "If 
you  can  whip  them,  why  haven't  you  done  it  be 
fore?'' 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-eight 

Dr.  Beecher  said,  "Now,  then,  Englishmen, 
since  fair  play  is  a  jewel,  I  claim  the  right  to  answer 
that  man. " 

It  was  in  Exeter  Hall,  at  a  great  meeting  there. 
The  English  nation  always  voices  a  sentiment  for 
"fair  play, "  you  know. 

He  said,  "You  asked  me  why  if  we  can  whip 
them,  we  haven 't  whipped  them  before,"  He 
went  on  "I  will  tell  you  why,  my  friend.  It  is 
because  we  are  righting  Americans,  and  not  Brit 
ish." 

He  had  that  fight  to  make  and  he  made  it.  Here 
is  slavery;  here  is  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  its  character  of  independence,  its  character 
for  justice,  its  Declaration  of  Independence  in  the 
Constitution,  that  every  man  is  entitled  to  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  here  is 
the  man  who  has  come  to  the  foremost  place,  to 
assert  these  concrete  propositions! 

There  was  slavery,  yes.  There  was  slavery  when 
Washington  was  President,  and  had  the  Constitu 
tion  made  as  it  was  made.  There  was  slavery 
through  all  the  years  down  to  the  time  of  Lincoln. 
The  character  of  Washington,  of  Hamilton,  of 
John  Marshall  the  Chief  Justice,  had  interpreted 


Page  one  hundred  ninety-nine 

the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  so  as  to  make 
it  effective,  with  Daniel  Webster,  who  demon 
strated  the  great  proposition  that  ended  in  these 
glorious  words,  "  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  for 
ever,  on<>and  inseparable."  They  had  all  done 
that  in  the  presence  of  a  Constitution  that,  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  said,  in  his  debate  with  Douglas,  gave  the 
power  to  one  man,  under  the  law,  to  eat  the  bread 
that  another  man  had  earned. 

Now,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  want  to  raise  that 
question.  He  wanted  the  Union,  and  he  knew 
that  if  the  Union  of  these  states  was  preserved, 
as  he  said,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand. "  "  It  cannot  be  half  free  and  half  slave. 
It  will  be  ultimately  all  one  or  all  the  other. "  He 
knew  and  he  believed  that  if  the  Union  was  pre 
served  and  grew  as  it  was  growing,  it  would  make 
freedom  ultimately.  He  did  not  say  that;  he  held 
that.  Battle  after  battle  was  lost,  the  people 
were  almost  dismayed,  but  men  kept  coming,  with 
the  old  song,  "We're  coming  Father  Abraham, 
three  hundred  thousand  more, "  swelling  the  ranks 
of  the  army  until,  before  the  war  was  over,  and  this 
great  struggle  for  liberty  concluded,  there  had 
been  three  million  mustered  on  the  Union  side. 


Page  two  hundred 

There  was  the  difficulty.  He  said,  "I  do  not 
want  to  destroy  this  thing  of  slavery  without 
compensation.  Let  me  pay  you  four  hundred 
million  dollars.  It  is  costing  millions  of  dollars 
a  day  to  carry  on  the  war.  Take  this  money 
that  would  be  spent  in  war,  and  stand  with  the 
Union,  and  let  your  slaves  go  free.  A  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  want  it 
to  stand;  it  must  stand.  Give  up  your  peculiar 
institution."  No.  The  vote  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  against  it.  No  more  eloquent 
passages  were  ever  written  by  Abraham  Lincoln, 
than  in  his  message  recommending  compensated 
emancipation. 

I  often  wonder,  when  we  read  the  Gettysburg 
address,  and  the  second  inaugural  address,  and 
the  conclusion  of  the  first  inaugural  address  and 
the  letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  with  which  you  are  all 
familiar — I  often  wonder  that  there  is  not  read 
with  them  the  conclusion  of  that  message  to  Con 
gress  on  the  first  of  December,  1862,  after  the 
first  emancipation  proclamation  had  been  issued 
on  September  22d — I  often  wonder  that  the  pas 
sage  commencing  "We  cannot  escape  from  this 


Page  two  hundred  on* 

thing, "  is  not  put  alongside  of  them  as  one  of  the 
most  expressive  and  eloquent  expressions  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  ever  used. 

The  battle  of  Antietam  occured  after  Mr.  Lin 
coln  had  written  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
He  had  it  put  away.  He  was  afraid  that  if  he 
sent  forth  that  proclamation  when  we  were  in 
defeat  the  world  would  say,  "Oh,  that  is  a  des 
perate  ruse  of  a  man  that  has  no  other  resources. 
You  are  striking  blindly. "  He  would  not  do  that. 
The  son  of  the  old  pioneer,  the  grandson  of  one 
who  had  fallen  in  the  wilderness  with  the  shot 
of  an  Indian,  the  boy  who  was  born  in  Kentucky 
and  had  lived  in  this  great  state,  was  a  man  of 
infinite  courage.  He  would  not  do  an  act  of  any 
kind,  even  an  act  setting  free  the  slave,  from  an 
idea  of  weakness.  He  said  to  the  ministers  that 
came  to  him  from  Chicago,  and  wanted  to  issue 
the  proclamation  before  it  was  ready,  "I  do  not 
want  to  issue  a  bull,  like  the  Pope  against  a  comet. 
I  cannot  stop  that.  I  can  scarcely  enforce  the 
Constitution.  I  am  trying  to  do  that.  Why  do 
you  want  me  to  do  this  other?  "  He  waited  until 
after  the  battle  of  Antietam,  when  General  Lee 
came  north  and  invaded  the  state  of  Maryland. 


Page  two  hundred  two 

Then  there  was  victory  for  the  United  States. 
What  did  the  victory  cost?  Fourteen  thousand 
men  on  their  side  and  twelve  thousand  men  on 
our  side  killed  and  wounded.  It  was  fought  on 
Friday.  On  Saturday  it  was  uncertain  for  a  while 
whether  we  had  gained  the  victory  or  lost  the 
battle.  On  Sunday  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  that  it  was 
a  victory;  and  as  he  said,  "I  brushed  up  my 
proclamation  and  on  Monday  I  let  them  have  it. " 

At  last  the  thunderbolt  was  thrown!  That 
which  was  to  destroy  the  institution  and  make 
perfect  the  character  of  the  United  States!  Jus 
tice!  Freedom!  Not  only  for  the  slave,  but  for 
all  the  world,  because  that  thought,  thus  expressed 
and  thus  embodied,  became  a  part  of  our  Con 
stitution,  that  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude, 
except  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  has  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  not  exist  in  the  United  States  or 
any  place  within  their  jurisdiction. 

Now  thus  this  Illinois  man,  that  had  borne 
this  mighty  weight  of  battle,  even  of  defeat  in  the 
field,  of  strenuous  days,  for  four  years  rounded 
out  and  perfected  the  character  of  the  United 


Page  two  "hundred  three 

States,  as  truly  just  and  truly  statesmanlike  and 
politic,  and  embodied  it  in  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States. 

So  I  say,  the  character  of  these  United  States, 
being  of  these  lineaments  and  qualities  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  portray,  were  impersonated 
in  this  man. 

What  has  been  done  for  us?  I  bore  my  little 
part  in  that  Grand  Army,  with  your  father,  and 
your  grandfather.  I  helped  a  little,  but  I  received, 
and  have  received,  from  that  day  to  this,  untold 
blessings,  in  my  country's  career.  What  is  our 
country  now?  Is  it  dissevered?  Is  it  disorgan 
ized?  Is  it  weak?  Look  to  that  fleet  now  coming 
home  across  the  broad  sea,  in  three  columns,  like 
the  tines  in  Neptune's  trident.  It  has  been  around 
the  world  with  our  country's  flag.  Would  we 
have  had  that,  had  not  Lincoln  stood  up  for  the 
Union,  had  the  man  not  been  for  the  Union,  had 
the  Union  not  been  preserved?  I  think  not. 

Listen  to  that  tall  shaft  that  on  the  Republic, 
in  danger,  sent  out  the  summons  of  peril,  to  harbor 
and  town  and  vacant  ocean,  to  vessels  that  has 
tened  to  the  rescue.  You  can  see  Lincoln  standing 
there  for  the  Union  like  that  great  electric  shaft, 


Page  two  hundred  four 

and  you  can  hear  the  throb  in  distant  household 
and  park  and  altar  and  field,  and  the  tapping  of 
that  mysterious  sympathy  that  united  a  great 
people  in  a  great  struggle.  They  hastened  to  the 
support  of  his  great  effort  to  save  our  Union,  as 
the  vessels  went  to  the  rescue  of  the  Republic. 
Bless  you!  I  think  so.  And  I  think  that  as 
mankind  is  in  sympathy  everywhere  with  those 
who  rescue  from  death  and  the  grave  in  the  ocean, 
so  our  people  are  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
our  great  republic,  and  realize  that  there  was  a 
redemption,  a  life-saving  act  of  this  great  man, 
and  that  we  owe  him  what  he  gave  us, — integrity. 
My  young  friends,  integrity,  honesty,  in  all  of  the 
relations  of  life.  Abraham  Lincoln  paid  a  debt 
of  a  few  dollars  years  after  it  was  due  because 
he  could  not  pay  it  when  it  was  due.  He  walked 
miles  to  return  to  a  woman  the  change  she  had 
given  him  over  the  amount  she  ought  to  have  paid 
him,  in  his  store.  He  went  to  his  store  one  morn 
ing,  and  found  he  had  sold  a  parcel  of  tea  to  a 
young  woman  and  had  put  a  weight  in  the  scales, 
so  it  measured  lighter  than  he  had  supposed.  He 
took  that  much  tea,  that  she  had  paid  for  and 
not  received,  and  carried  it  to  her. 


Page  two  "hundred  five 

He  carried  the  dollars  due  from  him  as  post 
master  of  New  Salem,  for  years,  until  the  govern 
ment  sent  a  balance  sheet  to  him,  and  then  he 
said  (he  was  then  a  lawyer,  I  believe)  "Yes,  I 
have  put  it  here  on  the  shelf  somewhere."  He 
had  taken  the  money  due  the  government  and 
put  it  in  an  old  sack,  and  kept  it  for  years,  until 
the  government  called  for  it,  then  handed  it  over. 
He  had  integrity,  not  alone  in  great  things,  that 
all  the  world  knows  about,  but  in  the  little  things 
that  we  encounter  when  no  one  is  looking. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  man  of  true  courage 
will  perform  an  act  of  valor  when  he  is  alone 
just  as  readily  as  when  he  is  in  the  eye  of  millions 
of  people.  A  man  of  integrity  will  do  acts  of 
honesty  when  no  man  knows  it,  when  it  is  in  the 
smallest  of  matters,  because  it  is  not  the  praise 
of  the  act  that  makes  the  man.  It  is  that  charac 
ter  that  is  within  him. 

Self  reliance!  You  will  need  that,  my  young 
friends.  There  is  nothing  you  will  find  more  irk 
some  at  times  than  to  make  up  your  minds. 
Lincoln  was  a  man  that  never  asked  advice  as 
to  what  he  should  do,  after  he  had  determined 
upon  it.  He  listened.  He  was  a  man  that 


Page  two  "hundred  six 

touched  life,  as  I  have  endeavored  to  express, 
as  a  wireless  telegraph,  to  every  corner  about  him. 
He  knew  more  about  the  political  situation  of  a 
state,  or  a  city,  or  community,  than  anybody, 
because  he  was  in  tune  with  it.  When  he  had 
made  up  his  purpose  he  was  as  immutable  and 
immovable  as  a  rock. 

When  disasters  were  falling  upon  the  army, 
when  this  battle  and  that  was  being  lost,  when 
men  discontented  were  almost  shrieking  out,  when 
Horace  Greeley,  his  old  friend,  was  criticising  him, 
he  would  have  been  moved  if  he  ever  was. 

Independence!  He  earned  his  living.  Every 
dollar  that  he  ever  spent,  he  earned. 

Truthfulness !  He  had  a  scorn  for  anything  but 
the  absolute  truth  in  regard  to  every  matter. 

I  could  go  on  and  enumerate  and  illustrate  his 
qualities.  You  know  them.  You  have  read  them. 
My  thought  is  to  you  today,  "Be  like  him."  Our 
public  schools  have  given  you  great  advantages. 

It  was  my  privilege,  while  I  was  in  the  govern 
ment  employ,  to  have  the  public  schools  in  charge, 
and  it  has  always  been  a  matter  of  great  consola 
tion  and  gratitude  to  me  that  you  have  twenty 
per  cent  of  our  pupils  in  the  high  schools. 


Page  two  hundred  seven 

Now  then,  a  word  about  the  future  and  I  will 
close.  You  have  the  future  in  your  control.  If 
you  will  exercise  the  qualities  that  he  developed 
and  give  to  your  country  the  character  that  it 
now  has,  and  keep  it  so,  you  need  not  fear  any 
sudden  shock.  You  will  carry  with  you  the 
weapons  to  meet  the  emergencies  of  the  future. 
If  the  call  of  battle  summons,  you  girls  will  see 
your  brothers  and  husbands  go,  as  you  men  your 
selves  will  go,  at  the  call  of  duty;  and  you  will 
have  the  same  courageous  determination  to  per 
form  the  daily  task  that  is  before  you  that  Lincoln 
had;  and  with  that  will  be  achieved  that  morality 
which  Lincoln  in  his  first  inaugural  address  dem 
onstrated  we  must  preserve. 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  attention.  I  have  a 
deep  sympathy  with  you.  I  am  proud  that  I  have 
been  given  the  opportunity  by  your  instructors 
to  be  here;  and  if  in  this  feeble  address  I  have 
been  able  to  aid  you  to  a  single  thought  that  will 
better  your  lives  and  help  our  country,  I  shall 
be  most  grateful. 


Page  two  hundred  eight 


AT   THE   LINCOLN   HOME 

In  the  afternoon  a  reception  was  held  at  the 
Lincoln  Home  by  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  at  which  addresses  were  made  by  Mrs. 
Donald  McLean  of  New  York  and  Mrs.  E.  S. 
Walker  of  Springfield,  and  by  Ambassadors  Jus- 
serand  and  Bryce.  From  the  Lincoln  Home  the 
assemblage  repaired  to  the  rooms  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  association  where  a  banquet  was 
spread  under  the  management  of  the  Daughters 
of  the  Revolution  at  which  addresses  were  made 
by  Mrs.  E.  S.  Walker,  Mrs.  William  J.  Bryan, 
Mrs.  Matthew  T.  Scott,  Mrs.  Jessie  Palmer  Weber, 
Mrs.  Chas.  V.  Hickox,  Mrs.  Donald  McLean  and 
others. 

This  reception  and  banquet  were  largely  attended 
by  ladies  from  neighboring  cities  and  states  and 
both  met  the  highest  hopes  of  the  managers. 


Page  two  hundred  nine 


AT  THE  HISTORICAL  LIBRARY 

On  the  evening  of  the  llth  a  reception  was 
held  at  the  rooms  of  the  State  Historical  Library 
at  the  Capitol.  Among  the  guests  that  thronged 
the  rooms  were  a  number  of  persons  who  knew 
Mr.  Lincoln  well  before  his  election  to  the  Presi 
dency.  The  meeting  was  quite  informal,  the  ad 
dresses  extemporaneous  and  largely  reminiscent 
in  character.  Hon.  Reddick  Ridgely  presided 
and  brief  talks  were  made  by  J.  McCan  Davis; 
B.  F.  Shaw,  Dixon;  Paul  Selby,  Chicago;  W.  T. 
Norton,  Alton;  W.  M.  T.  Baker,  Bolivia;  H.  W. 
Clendenin  and  T.  J.  Crowder. 


—14  L  C 


Page  two  "hundred  ten 


AT  THE  EXECUTIVE  MANSION 

At  10  a.  m.,  before  their  visit  to  the  monument, 
the  guests  of  the  Commission  called  at  the  Execu 
tive  Mansion  where  they  were  received  by 
Governor  and  Mrs.  Deneen.  Among  the  number 
were  Hon.  ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN;  Ambassadors 
JUSSERAND  and  BRYCE;  Senator  DOLLIVER;  Hon. 
WM.  J.  BRYAN;  Judge  SEAMAN,  Milwaukee;  Judge 
ANDERSON,  Indianapolis;  Judges  LANDIS  and 
GROSSCUP,  Chicago;  Judges  KLEIN  and  ROBINSON, 
St.  Louis;  General  NOBLE,  St.  Louis;  Honorables 
JAMES  S.  HARLAN,  WILLIAM  PHILLIPS,  C.  H.  BUT 
LER,  andW.  B.  RIDGELY, Washington;  Dr.EDMUND 
J.*JAMES,  Champaign;  Messrs.  E.  A.  BRIGGS,  J.  W. 
HARM  and  PAUL  SELBY,  Chicago;  and  Hon.  B.  F. 
SHAW,  Dixon. 


Page  two  hundred  eleven 


AT  THE  TOMB 

Early  in  the  day  the  veterans  of  the  GRAND 
ARMY  of  the  REPUBLIC,  whose  names  appear  in 
another  part  of  this  volume,  marched  to  the  Lin 
coln  Monument  at  Oak  Ridge,  accompanied  by 
a  military  band,  pitched  their  tents,  built  a  camp- 
fire,  and  served  as  a  Guard  of  Honor  during  the 
day.  Many  visitors,  singly  and  in  groups,  found 
their  way  to  the  Monument  in  the  course  of  the 
day. 

Just  before  noon  the  guests  of  the  Commission 
together  with  the  State  and  city  officials,  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  members  of  the  State  Com 
mission  and  of  the  Centennial  association  and 
many  citizens  of  Springfield,  visited  the  tomb  of 
Lincoln.  There  were  no  ceremonies  of  any  kind 
during  this  visit.  With  bowed  heads,  uncovered 
the  visitors  approached  the  tomb,  paid  their  silent 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  honored  dead  and 
returned  to  their  carriages. 


Page  two  hundred  twelve 

A  section  of  artillery  of  the  State  National 
Guard  fired  the  Presidential  Salute  of  twenty-one 
guns  as  the  visitors  left  the  cemetery. 


Page  two  hundred  thirteen 


AT  THE  ILLINI  COUNTRY  CLUB 

An  informal  luncheon  was  served  the  guests 
of  the  Commission  on  their  return  from  the  Monu 
ment  at  12:30,  by  the  Illini  Country  club.  No 
addresses  were  made  and  the  guests  immediately 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  luncheon,  repaired  to 
the  Tabernacle  for  the  afternoon  exercises. 


Page  two  hundred  fourteen 


THE  VETERAN  GUARD  OF  HONOR 

STEPHENSON  POST  No.  30,  G.  A.  R. 


JAMES  A.  CONNOLLY,  Post  Commander 
H.  A.  SAUNDERS,  Post  Adjutant 


D.  C.  BRINKERHOFF 
JACOB  SMITH 

A.  E.  SAUNDERS 
ALBERT  BROWN 

B.  R.  HIERONYMUS 
J.  O.  SIMS 

H.  RAHMAN 

JOHN  UNDERFANGER 

A.  S.  STEELMAN 

J.    W.    MCCUNE 

CHARLES  ELKIN 

D.  F.  BREWER 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT 
JOSEPH  DEFRIETAS 
T.  N.  DEERWEESTER 
G.  K.  GREENING 

J.  M.  STEPHENSON 
WILLIAM  NODINE 
M.  H.  COTTON 
CHAS.  SCHUPPEL 

E.  P.  BARTLETT 
W.  B.  HANKINS 
N.  W.  DOBBINS 
R.  E.  STRODE 
J.  D.  EIFERT 
JOHN  YOUNG 

F.  H.  BRUCE 


P.  B.  WOMACK 
PHILLIP  HOFFMAN 
C.  C.  CRUSER 
N.  A.  VAN  N  ATT  AN 
R.  W.  EWING 
T,  J.  COR  WINE 
HERMAN  HOFFERKAMP 
JOHN  R.  CAMPBELL 
JAMES  H.  FIELDS 
R.  H.  EASLEY 
H.  B.  DAVIDSON 
W.  H.  NEWLIN 
WM.  E.  EDWARDS 
FRED  SMITH 
JACOB  REEVES 
EDWARD  BROECKER 
JOSEPH  BIRT 
JOHN  F.  FAGAN 
J.  F.  POGUE 
Z.  T.  STARKEY 
THOS.  SOLOMON 
W.  H.  SAMMONS 
A.  L.  BROWNE 
EDWARD  S.  JOHNSON 
J.  S.  THOMPSON 
H.  W.  ROKKER 


Page  two  hundred  fifteen 

The  Veteran  Guard  of  Honor — Concluded 
MENDELL  POST  No.  450  G.  A.  R. 


JOHN  C.  BELL,  Post  Commander 
SAMUEL  D.  SCHOLES,  Post  Adjutant 

J.  M.  RIPPEY  J.  L.  WILCOX 

JOHN  G.  ROBERTS  BRYAN  W.  NICHOLL 

M.  O'CONNOR  W.  H.  HAYDEN 

ALFRED  TITUS  WILSON  DUGGAN 


OTHER  POSTS,  G.  A.  R. 

J.  W.  WOOD      *  M.  MATTHEWS 

J.  E.  GREEN  J.  P.  SARVER 

S.  P.  MOONEY  JACOB  MILSLAGLE 

AUGUST  HACKE  JOSEPH  W.  KING 

ROBERT  WOODS  N.  N.  COONS 

NICHOLAS  KASLICK  D.  C.  AVERY 

GEO.  LUDLAM  A.  WYANT 

H.  T.  RICHARDSON  GEORGE  WESTBROOK 

T.  A.  STEWART  A.  F.  WEAVER 

S.    HOLLINGSWORTH  CHARLES   WATERS 

H.  F.  BURTON  A.  S.  CAPPS 

J.    S.    Pi  ATT  J.    M.    SUTTON 

A.  B.  LEEPER  C.  CUSHMAN 

DANIEL  VAN  NATTAN  T.  D.  SHEPARD 

W.  M.  HAINES  JOHN  N.  NICHOLS 


Page  two  hundred  sixteen 


THE   ILLINOIS   CENTENNIAL   COMMIS 

SIGN 


JAMES  A.  CONNOLLY,  Chairman 

JOHN  W.  BUNN,  Vice  Chairman 

EDWARD  D.  KEYS,  Secretary 

BEN  F.  GALDWELL  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM 

EDWIN  L.  CHAPIN  JAMES  A.  CREIGHTON 

WILLIAM  JAYNE  J  OTIS  HUMPHREY 

ALFRED  ORENDORFF  NICHOLAS  ROBERTS 

JAMES  A.  ROSE  EDGAR  S.  SCOTT 

LAWRENCE  Y.  SHERMAN  PHILIP  BARTON  WARREN 


Page  two  hundred  tevenUen 


LINCOLN    CENTENNIAL   ASSOCIATION 


J  OTIS  HUMPHREY,  President 

JOHN  W.  BUNN,  Vice  President 

PHILIP  BARTON  WARREN,  Secretary 

J.  H.  HOLBROOK,  Treasurer 

EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE 


JOHN  W.  BUNN 
BEN  F.  CALDWELL 
E.  L.  CHAPIN 
JAMES  A.  CONNOLLY 
JAMES  A.  CREIGHTON 
SHELBY  M.  CULLOM 
J  OTIS  HUMPHREY 
CHARLES  S.  DENEEN 
E.  A.  HALL 
J.  H.  HOLBROOK 
WM.  B.  JESS 
JNO.  M.  KIMBLE 


LEWIS  H.  MINER 
ROY  R.  REECE 
LOREN  E.  WHEELER 
WILLIAM  JAYNE 
EDWARD  D.  KEYS 
ALFRED  ORENDORFF 
NICHOLAS  ROBERTS 
JAMES  A.  ROSE 
EDGAR  S.  SCOTT 
L.  Y.  SHERMAN 
PHILIP  BARTON  WARREN 


FINANCE   AND   MEMBERSHIP   COMMITTEE 

JOHN  W.  BUNN,  Chairman 
LATHAM  T.  SOUTHER,  Secretary 


NICHOLAS  ROBERTS 
JOHN  C.  PIERIK 
JAMES  H.  PADDOCK 


W.  F.  WORKMAN 
JAMES  A.  EASLEY 


Page  two  hundred  eighteen 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 
PUBLICITY   COMMITTEE 

JAMES  A.  ROSE,  Chairman 
J.  R.  B.  VAN  CLEAVE,  Secretary 

HENRY  M.  MERRIAM  A.  L.  BOWEN 

THOMAS  REES  JOHN  W.  SCOTT 

TRANSPORTATION   COMMITTEE 

WILLIAM  B.  RIDGELY,  Chairman 
EDGAR  S.  SCOTT,  Secretary 

LOGAN  HAY  JOHN  D.  MARNEY 


BANQUET   COMMITTEE 

PHILLIP  BARTON  WARREN,  Chairman 
GEO.  B.  STADDEN,  Secretary 

JOHN  MCCREERY  WALTER  MCCLELLAN  ALLEN 


COMMITTEE   ON  MUSIC 
E.  L.  CHAPIN,  Chairman 

ALBERT  GUEST  CLARK  B.  SHIPP 

R.  C.  BROWN 

ARMORY   DECORATION   COMMITTEE 

GEO.  B.  HELMLE,  Chairman 

HENRY  ABELS  H.  D.  SWIRLES 

THOS.  W.  SCOTT 


Page  two  hundred  nineteen 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 

STREET   DECORATION   COMMITTEE 

HENRY  DIRKSEN,  Chairman 

EDWARD  W.  PAYNE  H.  T.  WILLET 

Louis  H.  MYERS  WALTER  VAN  DUYN 

R.  E.  HATCHER  H.  L.  IDE 

CHARLES  BRESSMER  CHARLES  H.  ROBINSON 

FRED  BUCK 


LOCAL   TRANSPORTATION   COMMITTEE 

EMIL  G.  SCHMIDT  EMANUEL  SALZENSTEIN 

B.  R.  STEPHENS  G.  J.  LITTLE 


COMMITTEE    ON   SPEAKERS 

J  OTIS  HUMPHREY  CHARLES  S.  DENEEN 

SHELBY  M.  CULLOM 


COMMITTEE    ON   PRINTING   AND   SOUVENIRS 

J.  R.  B.  VAN  CLEAVE  JAMES  W.  JEFFERSON 

JAMES  H.  PADDOCK 


COMMITTEE    ON   CEREMONIES 

JAMES  A.  ROSE  J.  H.  COLLINS 

FRANCIS  G.  BLAIR 


Page  two  hundred  twenty 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 
OUT-OF-TOWN  LIFE  MEMBERS 


Armour,  J.  Ogden,  Chicago 
Armsby,  Geo.  N.,  San  Fran 
cisco 

Arthurs,  W.  C.,  Mt.  Vernon 
Aymar,  Jno.  W.,  New  York 
Ball,  John,  Farmersville 
Bartlett,  A.  C.,  Chicago 
Baxter,  Ed.  A.,  Pawnee 
Beall,  Wm.  G.,  Chicago 
Beggs,  Edwin  C.,  Ashland 
Bennett,  Wm.  W.,  Rockford 
Bethea,  S.  H.,  Dixon 
Blodgett,  W.  H.,  St.  Louis 
Bogardus,  Charles,  Paxton 
Briggs,  Asa  G.,  St.  Paul 
Brown,  W.  B.,  New  Berlin 
Brown,  Everett  J.,  Decatur 
Brown,  W.  L.,  Chicago 
Brown,  Charles  G.,  Divernon 
Bullard,  W.   S.,  Mechanics- 
burg 

Burgett,  Scott,  Newman 
Caldwell,  Ben  F.,  Chatham 
Carriel,  H.  B.,  Jacksonville 
Cheney,  J.  H.,  Bloomington 
Chytraus,  Axel,  Chicago 
Crafts,  C.  E.,  Chicago 
Craig,  Jas.  W.,  Mattoon 
Curry,  J.  Seymour,  Chicago 
Crea,  H.,  Decatur 
Deal,  John,  Riverton 
Denton,  E.  P.,  Hamilton 
Dunn,  Frank  K.,  Charleston 
Farmer,  W.  M.,  Vandalia 
Ferns,  Thos.  F.,  Jerseyville 
Fetzer,  Wm.,  Middletown,  O. 
Francis,  D.  R.,  St.  Louis 
Freeland,  Jno.  A.,  Bethany 
Funk,  LaFayette,  Blooming- 
ton 


Garische,  F.  A.,  Madison 
Garvey,  Henry  C.,  Buffalo 
Gibson,  Jas.  F.,  Carthage 
Gill,  Jas.  A.,  Vinita,  Okla. 
Gorin,  O.  B.,  Decatur 
Grant,  Walter  J.,  Danville 
Grosscup,  P.  S.,  Chicago 
Halbert,  W.  U.,  Belleville 
Hamill,  E.  A.,  Chicago 
Hand,  Jno.  P.,  Cambridge 
Harahan,  J.  T.,  Chicago 
Harris,  Geo.  B.,  Chicago 
Henry,  Edward  U.,  Peoria 
Higbee,  Harry,  Pittsfield 
Hitt,  J.  Brown,  New  Berlin 
Holdom,  Jesse,  Chicago 
Hough,Warwick  M.,  St.  Louis 
Hurt,  John  S.,  Buffalo  Hart 
James,   Edmund  J.,  Cham 
paign 

JeweU,  W.  R.,  Danville 
Johnston,  Milton,  Decatur 
Kent,  P.  J.,  Lanesville 
Kerrick,  Thos.  C.,  Blooming- 
ton 
Leonard,    E.    F.,    Amherst, 

Mass. 

Lillard,  Jno.  T.,  Bloomington 
Lindley,  Frank,  Danville 
T  'ttle,  Jno.  S.,  Rushville 

yett,  Robert  H.,  Pepria 
^    vden,  Frank  O.,  Chicago 
Lowry,  W.  W.,  Auburn 
Lucas,  J.  A.,  Lincoln 
Lyon,  J.  M.,  Pontiac 
Maguire,  J.  B.,  E.  St.  Louis 
Matthiessen,  F.  W.,  LaSalle 
McDaniel,  Oliver,  Buffalo 
McDonald,  E.  S.,  Decatur 
McEwen,  Willard  M.,  Chicago 


Page  two  "hundred  twenty-one 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 
Out-of-Town  Life  Members — Concluded 


McNeil,  J.  F.,  Oskaloosa,  la. 
Mills,  R.  W.,  Virginia 
Mitchell,  Wm.  H.;  Chicago 
Moloney,  M.  T.,  Ottawa 
Morris,  Edward,  Chicago 
Morris,  Edward  H.,  Chicago 
Musser,  Charles,  Pearl  City 
Nash,  0.  S.,  Sharpsburg 
Neidringhaus,  R.  E.,  Granite 

City 

Nelson,  John,  Donovan 
Oglesby,  J.  D.  G.,  Elkhart 
Orear,  T.  B.,  Jacksonville 
Parker,  Edward  J.,  Quincy 
Parsons,  George,  Cairo 
Pinckney,  I.  C.,  Peoria 
Prather,  J.  F.,  Williamsville 
Prather,  Jno.  W.,  Williams 
ville 

Ramsey,  F.  E.,  Morrison 
Rankin,   Geo.  C.,  Washing 
ton,  D.  C. 

Regan,  J.  F.,  Mt.  Sterling 
Rew,  Robert,  Rockford 
Ridgely,  Wm.  Barrett,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C. 


Rinaker,  John  I.,  Carlinville 
Roberts,  James,  Chicago 
Scott,  A.  R.,  Bethany 
Seipp,  W.  C.,  Chicago 
Shepherd,  Thos.  A.,  Pawnee 
Shirley,   Robert  B.,  Carlin 
ville 

Shriver,  J.  H.,  Virden 
Simonson,    S.    E.,    Luxora, 

Ark. 

Small,  Len,  Kankakee 
Smith,  Bryon  L.,  Chicago 
Smith,  Geo.  W.,  Carbondale 
Smith,  Orson,  Chicago 
Smith,  W.  W.,  Joliet 
Tuttle,  I.  R.,  Harrisburg 
Twist,  Ira  F.,  Taylorville 
Wai-field,  W.  S.,  Quincy 
Watts,  John  L.,  Danville 
Weir,  Miller,  Jacksonville 
Whit  comb,  H.  F.,  Milwaukee 
Wilms,  Fred,  Quincy 
WiUson,  Howard  T.,  Virden 
Winston,  B.  C.,  St.  Louis 
Yantis,  J.  W.,  Shelbyville 
Zoline,  Elijah  N.,  Chicago 


SPRINGFIELD  LIFE  MEMBERS 


Abels,  Henry 
Adams,  Alfred 
Addleman,  O.  G. 
Allen,  Walter  McC. 
Anderson,  Jas.  H. 
Ansell,  Oscar 
Appel,  Jacob  M. 
Armstrong,  W.  P. 
Babcock,  O.  B. 
Bacchus,  L.  L. 


Bahr,  Raymond  V. 
Ball,  Richard 
Barber,  John  A. 
Barker,  H.  E. 
Barker,  S.  A. 
Barkley,  James  H. 
Barnes,  A.  J. 
Barnes,  Edgar  S. 
Barry,  W.  B. 
Bates,  Geo.  A. 


Page  two  hundred  twenty-two 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 
Springfield  Life  Members — Continued 


Becker,  Geo.  H. 
Berry,  R.  L. 
Bisch,  Chas.  T. 
Bisch,  Harold  P. 
Black,  John  W. 
Blackstock,  Ira  B. 
Blair,  F.  G. 
Blankemeyer,  H.  C. 
Bode,  Frank  H. 
Booth,  Alfred 
Bowcock,  C.  M. 
Bowen  A.  L. 
Bradford,  Wm.  A. 
Brainerd,  Jas.  L. 
Bressmer,  Charles 
Bressmer,  John 
Bretz,  John  E. 
Bretz,  John  F. 
Brinkerhoff,  Geo.  M.,  Sr. 
Brinkerhoff,  Geo.  M.,  Jr. 
Brinkerhoff,  John  H. 
Broadwell,  Stuart 
Brown,  Milton  Hay 
Brown,  Owsley 
Brown,  R.  C. 
Brown,  Stuart 
Bruce,  W.  H. 
Buck,  Fred 
Bunker,  Wm.  A.  M. 
Bunn,  Geo.  W. 
Bunn,  Henry 
Bunn,  Jacob 
Bunn,  John  W. 
Bunn,  Joseph  F. 
Bunn,  Willard 
Burke,  Edmund 
Burnett,  S.  T. 
Burns,  Wm.  G. 
Butler,  W.  J. 
Cadwallader,  J.  F. 


Carroll,  C.  C. 
Castle,  Stanley 
Chapin,  E.  L. 
Chatterton,  G.  W.;  Sr. 
Child,  Henry  L. 
Coe,  George  E. 
Coe,  Louis  J. 
Cole,  Nathan 
Coleman,  L.  H. 
Coleman,  Logan 
Coleman,  Louis  G. 
Collins,  J.  H. 
Conkling,  Clinton  L. 
Conkling,  Wm.  H. 
Connelly,  Geo.  S. 
Connolly,  James  A. 
Converse,  A.  L. 
Converse,  H.  A. 
Converse,  W.  O. 
Condell,  Thomas 
Condon,  T.  J. 
Conway,  W.  H. 
Cook,  J.  L. 
Cook,  John  C. 
Creighton,  James  A. 
Crook,  A.  N.  J. 
Cullom,  Shelby  M. 
Banner,  L.  A. 
Davidson,  Gaylord 
Davis,  Henry 
Davis,  J.  McCan 
Day,  Geo.  Edward 
Deal,  Don 
Deneen,  Charles  S. 
DeRosset,  F.  A. 
Desnoyers,  V.  E. 
Desnoyers,  W.  L. 
DeVares,  D.  A. 
Diller,  Isaac  R. 
Diller,  J.  W. 


Page  two  hundred  twenty-three 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association— Continued 
Springfield  Life  Members — Continued 


Dirksen,  Henry  A. 
Dodds,  J.  C. 
Dodds,  R.  N. 
Dorwin,  H.  F. 
Dorwin,  Shelby  C. 
Dowling,  James  E. 
Drennan,  B.  F. 
Dubois,  Lincoln 
Dunlop,  Geo.  C. 
Dunn,  E.  J. 
Easley,  James  A. 
Easley,  R.  H. 
Edward,  A.  W. 
Edwards,  A.  S. 
Egan,  Richard 
Elshpff,  Anton 
Farris,  Joseph 
Feaster,  C.  W. 
Fisher,  Frank  R. 
Fiske,  C.  A. 
Fitzgerald,  A.  M. 
Fogarty,  J.  G. 
Fortado,  Jno.  L. 
Franz,  John  B. 
Frazee,  C.  A. 
Frederick,  D.  C. 
Furlong,  James. 
Garber,  M.  B. 
George,  G.  J. 
Giblin,  C.  J. 
Gillespie,  George  B. 
Godley,  Frank 
Graham,  Hugh  J. 
Graham,  James  M. 
Guest,  R.  A. 
Haas,  R. 
Hagler,  A.  Lee 
Hagler,  Elmer  E. 
Halderman,  Nathan 
Hall,  E.  A. 


Hall,  James  A. 
Hamilton,  Wathen 
Hanes,  S.  J. 
Hankins,  W.  B. 
Hartman,  Edw.  F. 
Hatch,  F.  L. 
Hatch,  Pascal  E. 
Hatcher,  R.  E. 
Hay,  Charles  E. 
Hay,  Logan 
Hazell,  E.  F. 
Helmle,  Ernest  H. 
Helmle,  George  B. 
Helper,  J.  C. 
Hemmick,  J.  E. 
Herndon,  R.  F. 
Hickey,  Rev.  T. 
Hickox,  G.  C. 
Hicks,  Howard  T. 
Hieronymus,  B.  R. 
Hoff ,  Alonzo 
Holbrook,  J.  H. 
Howard,  W.  M. 
Hudson,  J.  L. 
Hudson,  Ridgely 
Hughes,  Arthur  F. 
Humphrey,  J  Otis 
Humphrey,  Otis  S. 
Hunn,  R.  G. 
Hurst,  Charles  H. 
Ide,  H.  L. 
Ide,  Roy 
Irwin,  Edwin  F. 
Irwin,  Horace  C. 
James,  A.  C. 
Jamison,  F.  R. 
Jayne,  William . 
Jefferson,  James  W. 
Jefferson,  Roy  T. 
Jess,  Wm.  B. 


Page  two  hundred  twenty-four 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Continued 
Springfield  Life  Members — Continued 


Johnson,  Edward  S. 
Jones,  James  A. 
Jones,  James  T. 
Jones,  M.  A. 
Jones,  Nicholas  R. 
Jones,  S.  T. 
Kane,  Charles  P. 
Keys,  Alvin  S. 
Keys,  Edward  D. 
Keys,  Edward  L. 
Keys,  George  E. 
Kimble,  John  M. 
Kinsella,  R.  F. 
Kirlin,  Ben  M. 
Klaholt,  Carl 
Knudson,  Benjamin 
Kreider,  Geo.  N. 
Lange,  B.  A. 
Latham,  Geo.  C. 
Latham,  Henry  G. 
Legg,  F.  M. 
Leland,  J.  A. 
Lewis,  Warren  E. 
Little,  G.  J. 
Lloyd,  G.  L. 
Lloyd,  John  H. 
Logan,  Rev.  T.  D. 
Lomelino,  E.  F. 
Long,  Fred  W. 
Loper,  Harry  T. 
Lord,  J.  S. 
Lubbe,  Henry  B. 
Luby,  T.  P. 
Lutz,  John. 
Lyon,  T.  E. 
Mackie,  A.  D. 
Macpherson,  A.  B. 
Macpherson,  J.  F. 
Maldaner,  John 
Margrave,  James  M. 


Marlowe,  William 
Marney,  J.  D. 
Masters,  H.  W. 
Matheny,  Robert 
Matheny,  J.  H. 
Maurer,  A.  F. 
Maxon,  O.  F. 
McAnulty,  R.  H. 
McCreery,  John 
McCullough,  J.  S. 
McGowan,  Frank  M. 
McGnie,  H.  O. 
McLennan,  J.  F. 
McVeigh,  Henry  B. 
Melick,  John  E. 
Merriam,  H.  M. 
Miller,  J.  F. 
Miller,  L.  S. 
Mills,  Charles  F. 
Miner,  Lewis  H. 
Mockler,  John  P. 
Mortimer,  G.  F. 
Munson,  S.  E. 
Murphy,  P.  F. 
Murray,  G.  W. 
Murray,  T.  J. 
Myers,  Albert 
Myers,  Lewis  M. 
Nickey,  Harry  W. 
Northcott,  W.  A. 
Orendorff,  Alfred 
Orr,  James  R. 
Paddock,  James  H. 
Page,  H.  G. 
Palmer,  Geo.  Thomas 
Pasfield,  George,  Sr. 
Pasfield,  George,  Jr. 
Patton,  Charles  L. 
Patton,  James  W. 
Patton,  William  L. 


Page  two  hundred  twenty-five 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association— Continued 
Springfield  Life  Members — Continued 


Pavey,  W.  A. 
Payne,  E.  W. 
Payton,  J.  K. 
Phillips,  D.  L. 
Pierik,  Herman 
Pierik,  John  G. 
Pope,  John 
Potter,  Fred  W. 
Potts,  Rufus  M. 
Power,  C.  A. 
Pride,  H.  T. 
Prince,  A.  E. 
Pruitt,  Edgar  C. 
Pyle,  Henry  C. 
Quackenbush,  G.  W. 
Quinlan,  John 
Rankin,  Albert  H. 
Ransom,  Isaac  N. 
Ray,  Verne 
Rearden,  Horace 
Reece,  Roy  R. 
Rees,  Thomas 
Reisch,  Frank 
Reisch,  George 
Reisch,  Leonard 
Remann,  Henry  C. 
Rich,  Benjamin 
Ridgley,  William 
Roberts,  C.  D. 
Roberts,  Nicholas 
Robinson,  Ghas.  H. 
Robinson,  E.  S. 
Rogers,  Rev.  E.  B. 
Rogers,  Roy  F. 
Roper,  J.  D. 
Rose,  James  A. 
Rottger,  C.  H. 
Salzenstein,  Albert 
Salzenstein,  Emanuel 
Samuels,  L.  J. 


Schaff,  M.  D. 
Schanbacher,  C.  H. 
Schlierbach,  F.  L. 
Schmidt,  Emil  G. 
Schnepp,  John  S. 
Scholes,  J.  B. 
Scholes,  S.  D. 
Schuck,  Charles 
Scott,  Edgar  S. 
Scott,  John  W. 
Scott,  Thomas  W. 
Seeley ,  Roy  M . 
Shand,  Richings  J. 
Sheehan,  Joseph  J. 
Sheehan,  William 
Shelton,  Law 
Sherman,  L.  Y 
Shepherd,  Chas.  M. 
Shepherd,  Wm.  B. 
Shipp,  Clark  B. 
Sikes,  John  H. 
Sikking,  A.  W. 
Simmons,  Frank 
Skelly,  Geo.  M. 
Smith,  D.  W. 
Smith,  E.  S. 
Smith,  Hal  M. 
Smith,  Wm.  W. 
Snively,  E.  A. 
Solenberger,  H.  M. 
Sommer,  W.  C. 
Souther,  Latham  T. 
Southwick,  J.  W. 
Spaulding,  W.  J. 
Stadden,  E.  A. 
Stadden,  Geo.  B 
Starck,  W.  C. 
Stead,  W.  H. 
Stephens,  B.  R. 
Stericker,  Geo.  F. 


—15  L  C 


Page  two  hundred  twenty-six 

Lincoln  Centennial  Association — Concluded 
Springfield  Life  Members — Concluded 


Stevens,  Henry  A. 
Story,  J.  H. 
Stout,  Sam'l  J. 
Strongman,  R.  H. 
Stuart,  J.  W. 
Sudduth,  Thos.  W. 
Sullivan,  Wm.  H. 
Swett,  W.  W.,  Jr. 
Swirles,  H.  G. 
Taylor,  L.  C. 
Taylor,  Will 
Terry,  W.  E. 
Thayer,  E.  R. 
Townsend,  W.  A. 
Tuttle,  H.  H. 
Vance,  J.  W. 
Vancil,  Burke 
Van  Cleave,  J.  R.  B. 
Van  Duyn,  Walter 
Vredenburg,  Peter,  Sr. 
Vredenburg,  Robert  0. 
Vredenburg,  Thomas,  D. 
Vredenburg,  W.  R. 
Walters,  C.  H. 
Walters,  J.  C. 
Warren,  P.  B. 


Weber,  Howard  K. 
Werner,  Charles 
Wheeler,  L.  E. 
White,  J.  E. 
Whittemore,  H.  C. 
Wiedlocher,  Frank 
Wiggins,  Horace  L. 
Wiggins,  Lewis  N. 
Willett,  H.  T. 
Willett,  Samuel  J. 
Williams,  Daniel  T. 
Wilson,  Bluford 
Wilson,  G.  M. 
Wilson,  H.  Clay 
Wilson,  H.  W. 
Wilson,  J.  F. 
Wilson,  Thomas  W. 
Wineteer,  Chas.  G. 
Wing,  T.  E. 
Woods,  C.  M. 
Workman,  W.  F. 
York,  John 
Young,  W.  A. 
Zapf,  William 
Zimmerman,  Joseph 
Zumbrook,  Chas.  W. 


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